The Hunter and The Hunted
by Lee Chua
Summary: The stage is set and the fate of the world hangs in the balance, as one discovers his past and another takes control of her future. Update: I'll be placing the story on Hiatus for now, until I'm finished with Face of Vengeance. Sorry for the wait.
1. The Blood Heals

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and all characters created for this magical book that had changed so many lives. Hopefully, for the better.

_A/N: _First and foremost, I would like to express my utmost appreciation and gratefulness to Irishfighter, petites sorcieres, moonpower02, kubas89, EvilDaystar, WolfGirl75, Kibouchi, Nirvah88 and shadow. For taking time to share their thoughts,critisms and words of encouragements.

I also thank Stompy Bigfoot, Fetchruffruffmanlvr, lunalovegood1dreamygirl, IchigoRenji, Ic1831, trooperbaronismybtch, IRRISSE, ginny75, psycho1212, Arkenstone007, hEaRtLeSs22, Carma Nightmare, Dark Lord Moridin, Loopy Looney Charny, tar heels superstar, endlessthrist, Astromutt, psycho-k, Aervon223, vicky0958, DeathDefier25, Fire-fly1406, kingdom219, Weclipse, Theremore Guard, Bella Mireille Proulx, Warlocke, Rainbow2007, boredlittlestudent,Kelthoran, Dryzha, xoxSlytherinGirlxox, msmith, Megan., phantombrick, Fury of the Wolves, Lord Bloody Shadow, slytherinprincezz18, Stygius Magic, Noc007, NightOwl 24, biggleswade, alleka, chaosprophet, denise134 and churchie for making my story into one of their favorites and/or placing them into their story/author alerts

Now, I did a lot of revisions because I wasn't contented with how I wrote it, trying to cram two novel length stories into one fanfiction isn't and never is a good idea. To my defense, these stories have been created during my later years in college as an up-and-coming campus journalist, up to now, where I've been working for nearly 3 years of my life already.

To those who have continued to read this fanfiction, my thanks will never encompass how much I wanted to finish this story for you, all of you. And now I present the re-write, The Hunter and The Hunted.

4-20-13: Also to give special thanks to frustratedstudent for doing the Beta of the re-write.

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><p>It begins: <strong>The Blood Heals<strong>

_The war is finally over… My hands and mouth are bloodied and Ravenstorm's silver rapier caked with the blood of all sorts from werewolf to wizards… How do I explain the whispers of the wind, my bloodlust finally overwhelmed and non-existent? Frankly, it had to be done. Just like what Clemenza said in that muggle movie the Godfather? "__You know, you gotta stop them at the beginning. Like they should have stopped Hitler at Munich, they should never let him get away with that, they was just asking for trouble." _

"Luna…" I heard him say, as he lay on the grass. He was so battered, my intended fallen to the ground. I closed my eyes and knelt down beside him, holding his hands. The scent of his blood overwhelmed every other thing I could sense. His blood tasted full of purity and sorrow, of victory and sweetness, of longing and of love only for me. Smiling softly at him, I whispered, "The ancient warlock gave so much, even his life. The wolf and his mate are resting on the fringe of the forest. Your lieutenants are all safe, thank Merlin, but we still lost so much."

I broke my gaze away from him and surveyed the grounds of the majestic castle I called my school. The battlements and walls ruined or caved in, the suits of armor covered in blood and dents. "Piertum Locomotor is a scary piece of magic, love. It felt like a puppet master pulling on strings to kill his enemies." I told him just as I saw our mentors, classmates and their parents, and allies huddled in their own groups, still alert for any stragglers who didn't stay down. '_Innocence is lost. What grief must we all muster for so called peace? But just as Albus had said it, if we do not fight against the evil espoused by Voldemort, then we cannot ask or hope for a better world for the ones we love and hold dear._'

"It is done my love and no harm shall befall us this day." I told him, letting his head rest on my lap after I kissed him. Stroking his messy jet black hair, I never let him out of my sight, just as I kept hearing his heartbeat gradually slowing down.

'_No one ever really wins in a war. Both innocent and guilty meet their untimely demise. In a way, the elders and a mentor of mine were right all along. Human beings are savages, having a penchant of destruction and misery in all things they do, but unlike most races they've encountered, humans have tried to at least achieve peace._'

His hacking cough broke the moment in my thoughts and each strained breath felt like daggers twisting in my very heart. '_My beloved, an inch from the Grim Reaper's touch again. Do I give Death such a prize or steal him away by giving him my gift?_' I argued with myself and tears freely fell from my eyes. '_His emerald orbs stare into my very soul, seeing past the bloodlust, the pain, the suffering, and his smile bringing up the light into pitch black darkness which resides in my own vampiric heart, guilty in taking lives away and bringing them to the Grim Reaper._'

Hearing the shouts of triumph, I look into his eyes once more, as he brushed the blood tears from my face. It was the same ever since the threstrals, a gateway to the man I love. "Harry, my Harry" I whispered, giving him a kiss for one last time.


	2. The Hunter Ascends

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and its characters. Plots mine though. Any characters or scenes that may remind you of a few certain novels is either not intentional or may be inspired by these.

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><p>Chapter 1: <strong>The Hunter Ascends<strong>

"Sirius! No!" Harry screamed, waking up abruptly after seeing his Godfather fall through the veil. In a irritated voice, he muttered "Just a nightmare. Way to go Voldemort, you sick bastard." Brushing the cold sweat off his head, he stood up and looked out the window. "How do I kill that dark tosser? I'm just one boy who had way too much luck and a bit of help from people who end up hurt because of me. He's got 50 years of experience, power in spades, the heir of Slytherin and he resurrected himself."

With much pondering, he decided to pick up the Standard Book of Spells V and vowed to drive himself harder in his studies to destroy Voldemort once and for all.

The next few days moved like a blur, from reading up on new dueling books he's just ordered, chores which he used to build up his leaner frame, eating and studying. Of course the letters came but he decided to keep the responses short for now in case the letter gets intercepted. Hermione kept badgering him about assignments, something he already done. Ron on the other hand, tried his best to keep him updated with what was happening around the Wizarding world.

The spells from some books weren't as helpful, but two major things kept coming up as a central theme. To use the terrain effectively and to never underestimate the power of simple spells. _Why conjure and banish knives when an engorgement spell on the enemy's head can kill just as effectively. _ He thought as he wondered how he could put the concept to use, then it came to him just as he looked inside his room. The clutter, from his clothes to the bookshelves and bed, could be banished, summoned and transfigured against an attacker, buying him time to either continue the assault or retreat. While he pondered on the thoughts of retreat, a soft knock was heard on the other side of the door.

Opening it, he saw Dudley holding a tray with biscuits and tea, saying "I'd like to talk to you before mom and dad come home." Letting his cousin in, he placed the biscuits and tea on an empty counter in his room. At first, it started out awkwardly, before Dudley broke the silence. "Harry, I'm…" feeling nervous, his cousin cleared his throat and continued "I'm sorry for the rough years I've given you. Having grown up with my parents seeing you as the devil himself brought me to do so. But even when I've treated you like shit, you saved me from those…" an involuntary shiver came over Dudley when he remembered the coldness. "Dementors. I've been raised up thinking your kind were of the worst sort, but you still saved me that day. Why?"

Harry paused, hiding his shock at his cousin's apology, but composing himself, he replied "One of my friends called it my 'people-saving thing.' But personally, I just can't bear having people die around me and because of me. Especially since the bastard who killed my parents came back to life. That's why there is a war going on in our side of things and all those mysterious deaths you see in the newspapers are happening."

"Then it looks like the right time to help you, to pay you back at least for saving my life. I can't convince my folks to treat you any better, there's a lot of water under the bridge there. But what I can do is teach you something I've prided myself in. I'm teaching you how to brawl. You never know when you'd have to beat someone up to get to your wand." Dudley offered, his eyes fixed into Harry's and his hand outstretched. A moment passed and Harry shook his hand and said "Thank you, Dudley."

-x-x-x-x-x-

"Big D, where did you find this bloke? His reflexes and power for his scrawny frame is unbelievable. I've never seen anything like this before. He'd give those bastards at the other gym a sound beating." William, Dudley's boxing trainer remarked, while seeing Harry do his rounds with the punching bag. The time with him training with the mitts was something he never forgot too. Will was still feeling the hurt in his arms after Harry showed him how natural he was at hand-eye coordination.

"Bill, what can I say? He's my cousin, fighting is in our blood. He also goes to St. Brutus too, so he's tougher than he looks." Dudley responded with pride, seeing his cousin hit the punching bag viciously. '_He'd give me a run for my money after a month_'He thought to himself as he could have sworn he saw a spark of magic every five to ten punches. '_Scratch that, he'd give me a good fight today.'_

The almost daily training regiment coming from boxing occupied Harry's days when he's out of the house. And today he was surprising even himself as even his magic was compensating and catching up with his physical build up, feeling it especially when he imagined Voldemort's face as the punching bag and how it won't be expected by any of his enemies.

-x-x-x-x-x-

Convincing Slughorn wasn't the most peculiar thing about that night with Dumbledore, it was the worn down book the Headmaster gave him. "One more gift from your father's treasured items. He asked me to give it to you if he passed away before you became 16." The book glowed softly in Harry's hands and Dumbledore continued "From James' description, it's the book of the Ancient House of Potter, your Family's history. I myself could not open it, enchantments and runic sequences so complex and ancient that I wouldn't dare to do so. Harry, put your faith into your friends and they will help you every step of the way."

They continued to walk towards the Burrow and once Molly had greeted the two, Albus excused himself, expressing his regret for missing Molly's beef stew before apparating away.

After a typical homey dinner with the Weasleys, the reunited Golden Trio marched up Ron's room and closed the door behind them. Ron then said something that had been on his mind ever since Harry came. "What in Merlin's name happened during your time with the muggles? There seems to be a lot that changed for a short amount of time." From there, Harry told them all about his prizefighting, his new drive for magical studies and just as he was about to tell them about the prophecy, he finally noticed Hermione was staring intently at Harry.

"Mione, anything wrong?" Harry asked, looking back at Hermione.

She was still out of it for a couple more moments, before replying "No… No n-n-nothing's wrong, Harry. I was just um… Wow." She blushed furiously at having those thoughts about her best friend. It was something Ginny pointed out at dinner. '_In Ginny's words, a greek god that came down to earth and decided to eat beef stew at our very house._'She thought, seeing how her bestfriend looked easier on the eyes tonight.

The two guys looked at each other for a bit then laughed good-naturedly. Ron said "Harry, the lady doth protest too much methinks." Silence passed as they keenly looked at each other before bursting out laughing their hearts out, after Ron got smacked hard in the arm by Hermione.

Composing herself, Hermione glared at her two bestfriends for laughing at her. Only then did Harry decide to get serious and tell them about the prophecy and what happened in the Headmaster's office.

"In a nutshell, after I blasted some of his artifacts, I learned that I am the only one who can kill Voldemort because he chose me instead of Neville." Pointing to his scar "I told you this because you deserve to know it and why we're going to be targets in this coming war. And now, I must trust you with another secret." He took out the book from his right pocket and placed it on the bedside table.

Hermione looked in awe at the book and remarked "It's your family's heir book. I've only read them in passing but I've never seen one in my life. "Ron smiled and added "You could have asked me about it Hermione, all older wizarding families have one. Its where we got to know that we have an uncle Perseus whom they don't really want to talk about much or where Ginny learned and mastered her Bat Bogey Hex."

Harry opened the book and the name in front of the book changed from James Potter to Harry Potter.

_Harry,_

_If you happen to read this without me or Lilyflower, I'm afraid that damned prophecy took us from you. I'm sorry I couldn't make it to be with you, son. I know that I would have made a great last stand and Sirius would have killed Peter. But should Sirius not also be with you, that means that my worst fear had come to past and apologize more for putting you with Lily's horrible sister. Whatever happened up to this day, I know deep inside that our family's resiliency against adversity and dark lords will pull you through._

_This is our Family History, written only by the head of house Potter and to be passed down only for the heirs of our ancient house. This book contains all our triumphs and failures, and maybe one day, you may find a way to defeat that dark tosser back to the hell hole in which he should belong. I should also tell you now that we are a family of Hunters, or in other words, Vampire Slayers or Protectors of the Night. We have been for hundreds of years and at this time, will be experiencing significant physical and magical changes, making you stronger and faster. You won't be invincible, but it helped me pull those pranks that I don't think I'd have the power to pull off without them. Ask Professor McGonnagal about the old Slytherin owl incident, where a small statue of Athena's owl found its way into the Slytherin dorms, multiplied everytime someone aimed a spell at it and sung I'm a little teapot in Snape's voice. Those were the days, but I digress._

_But then, when your mother reciprocated my love for her, I decided to refuse being a hunter. It was a first in two hundred years, because I didn't want Lily or you to have Vampires to worry about, but we still hit a jackpot with Lord Moldyshorts either way. At the end of the day, something your mother told me comes to mind. 'It is your decision, your choice if you want to be a Hunter full-time or continue to be the same great wizard I know you are. I'll always be with you.' And Harry, we are always with you._

_I'm proud of you, Prongslet!_

_Love,_

_James_

The next few days were filled with bad news from the Daily Prophet, Harry's training and an occasional quick game of quidditch with Ginny and Ron against Harry and Hermione. All his extra time became devoted to learning a new spell, teaching everyone who was there about different things he learned, shadow boxing and spell dodging. At first it was Ron, then it became Hermione and Ron, up to the time Ron, Hermione, Ginny, the twins and Bill when he could spare sometime to fire stinging hexes at him.

"They wouldn't stand a chance at Quidditch with your reflexes, Harry!" Ron declared, enjoying a good laugh while walking back to the Burrow. But beneath all the laughter, Harry's dedication at beating Voldemort was fueled by the news that hit all of them very closely the other day. He remembered it quite vividly and again, the memory came back haunting him with a vengeance.

*flashback*

Three days after Harry arrived at the Burrow, the Daily Prophet arrived with the Headline "Lovegood rook destroyed" The picture showed a stone house gutted from the inside out, pieces of the magical printing press scattered around the grounds. As Harry read the article, his rage and guilt at Luna getting caught so early in the crossfire was visible in his face. The whole table was silent and their sorrow evident. Hermione broke the silence by standing up and wrapping her arms around Harry, a tear on her eye for someone she grew fond of for all her quirky gestures but intense loyalty. Ron likewise came and placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, looking into his eyes that told volumes of how he wanted to hurt Voldemort for harming Luna, then read the article some more before saying "They've found her father but not her. Her trunk and books are missing, she could have fled…"

Harry shook his head and said "This now made our mission more urgent." '_This is war and losses are inevitable. But by making myself stronger and helping everyone become stronger, we can end this war sooner.'_

"We're all with you Harry." Ginny remarked with determination and the twins nodded their faces resolute. '_For everyone lost in this war_.' That was the thoughts lingering from everyone as Trio started making plans with Ginny and the Twins pitched in how Harry could help while he was here in the Burrow.

*end of flashback*

The drive to improve drastically impressed everyone in the Burrow, which reinforced Hermione's belief that Harry just needed to focus harder. '_But even I think he needs to take a break now.'_ She told herself.

Hermione came to Harry who was practicing farther away from the Burrow where they played quidditch. After observing that he was beginning to lose his patience with learning a variation of the _Incarcerous_ spell, Hermione took the heirbook and tapped Harry on the shoulder, handing him the book. "I think you need a break and read up on your Family story Harry. It's the one thing that keeps me rested when I'm in the mundane world." He looked at Hermione with a bit of irritation and retorted "Are you serious Hermione? I have to catch up and drive myself harder. Voldemort has 50 years of experience in the darkest of magics and I doubt my luck would hold or he'd underestimate me this time."

She gave him the hardest glare she could give and she replied "I'm your bestfriend Harry and coming from me, I know you need to take a break. The Heirbook could give you an edge in the centuries of knowledge your family has handed down to you."

Harry saw the logic of it and decided to relent. He hadn't bothered to read the book since he got it and maybe it was time to take a peek. At the second page of the book, he saw the Family tree and to his surprise and sorrow, that he was the last of the Potters. He could see the names of everyone in the family and decided to look at it later. At the bottom of the page, a short note written in his father's handwriting simply said:

_The cloak has our sword – James_

Harry took his cloak and reached in a pocket he didn't know existed. He then felt something solid but light in his hand, just like the time he pulled Gryffindor's sword from the Sorting Hat. Pulling it out, he saw that it was an English broadsword with the family coat of arms visible at the guard. Hermione rushed to Harry's side to inspect the sword, at the same time Ron just came, about to call them to lunch. Ron was shocked at seeing a silver sword with Harry. "Mythril silver…" Ron muttered, removing one of the question Hermione has in her mind before she added "Nearly indestructible, so many runes… A runemaster's work!" She almost fainted from the intricate runework that was the stuff of stories from Professor Babbling.

All the while, Harry ignored the reactions of his two bestfriends as he was reading about the sword on the third page.

_The sword is the Runemaster and Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne's finest master work, known only to us as Excelsior. Excelsior is only given to you, the head of Potter Clan. It was created after the first Dracula's reign of terror, where Aegis Lux was destroyed. _ _The Dwarves of the French Alps, mourning the loss of one of the second Dwarven Lord's master works decided to work with the Emperor to create Excelsior. The sword can be used like a wand since it has a magical core, never revealed to us. Excelsior is made of Mythril Silver, cannot be taken away from us forcibly and lastly, gives us the means in which to carry our mission, which is to protect the innocent from evil._

Taking a seat on the bench away from prying eyes, Harry hid the sword inside the cloak again and knew that his bestfriends would keep his secret to their grave. Without warning, he became unconscious and a soft blue light lit up on his right arm. The wind swirled forcefully around him, forcing Hermione and Ron to look in awe and horror at what was happening to their friend.

I swear unto thee,

Sun, Moon and Stars,

That I, Last son of the Potters

Accept the duty of my forefathers

Hunter of the Night

Avatar of the Light

To Darkness

And their lords, the blood gods of lore

Impartial protector and judge of Man

From time before, time present and time's end.

A magical tattoo appeared on Harry's right bicep. The tattoo was the image of a shield with the sun behind it, a sword in front of the shield, small Celtic runes which was the same as the ones on Excelsior.

The wind died down and Harry was left on the grass, slowly going back to consciousness. "Harry, that was wicked!" Ron exclaimed while helping his friend up once more, instead of feeling the jealousy he usually does, he felt pride to help his best friend. The Hunters were held in high regard from the stories his mother had told him and in his secret study of magical warfare, the Hunters were instrumental in the wars against dark lords and ladies.

'_Seems that Hermione finally got to Ron then…_'Harry told himself, surprised that Ron did not get into a jealous fit that he used to. '_Hermione told me before that she had a nice long chat with Ron and finally got to the root of his problem. Having his older siblings do brilliant things and Ginny being the youngest and only girl, he feels pressured to have the attention of his parents. But since he doesn't really have anyone to talk to, he tends to say things bluntly that ends up sounding very wrong. So Hermione decided to help him by listening to him spill his heart out without retorting and making him describe his past to connect it to the present. She keeps blurting out something about psychoanalysis but I can't make heads or tails about it._'

"I'm going to warn both of you that being with me is dangerous enough without me being a hunter." Harry stated, looking down on the floor, feeling the weight of his task even more. He remembered the deaths during the war, especially Sirius and even his own parents. "Will you stay with me, together till the very end?" Harry held out his right hand and his two best friends placed theirs on top of his.

Hermione and Ron looked at him with incredulous looks and shook their heads "We're already in by association alone Harry." Hermione started before Ron added "So we're in it together till the very end. "

At that very moment, seeing his bestfriends loyalty, Harry remembered Luna at the Department of Mysteries.

*flashback*

'_At the Dumbledore's Army, she seems like her head is up in the clouds, absently flying around like a butterfly. But now, she's holding her own against Voldemort's finest. There's got to be more than the Luna I've talked to with the threstrals._' Harry thought as he saw Luna fighting in the Department of Mysteries. From that moment on, he decided that this year, he'd like to know that Luna, the same Luna that was a kindred soul with the threstrals and someone who understood him perfectly, no matter how bonkers she seemed to be from first glance.

*end of flashback

'_And I'll never get that chance again_,' he told himself, blinking away the sorrow and renewing his focus to defeat Voldemort once and for all.


	3. The Great Feast

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and its characters. It belongs to JK Rowling.

A/N: Again, plenty of thanks to frustratedstudent for continuing to beta for me. To the readers, I'd appreciate any thoughts or things you've like to discuss about the story.

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><p>Legends:<p>

"Words" – speech

"_Words_" – thought speech

'_Words_' - thoughts

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><p>Chapter 2: <strong>The Great Feast<strong>

The train trip was much subdued, no matter how the jokes made or the stories told attempted to cheer them up. The loss of Luna Lovegood was too much to simply brush aside, but couldn't really blame them for trying their best. Harry tried too, especially when his chocolate frog 'accidentally' shocked Ginny and made her pumpkin juice fly out to splatter Neville. Neville was drenched, but they were all laughing good-naturedly as Hermione cast a Scourgify at Neville.

The carriage back was too quiet for their tastes, but thankfully time passed faster than usual and the great feast was upon them. Albus Dumbledore's introduction of Horace Slughorn was met with mild enthusiasm, but Snape's finally holding the DADA position was a different story altogether. The three houses treated Snape's appointment with shock or dismay while Slytherin house cheered boisterously. Draco Malfoy smirked while Snape looked gleeful, both glaring at Harry Potter, but to their dismay, not a single reaction was elicited from him. He merely shrugged and ate his food in peace.

"_No need to think or give care about their pettiness. They are merely a distraction._" Another voice told Harry in his mind. He'd been having conversations in his mind and it game him mild comfort (and gratefulness) that it was his grandfather telling him these things. He shrugged and slowly remembered the time he discovered it on the last day at the Burrow.

*flashback*

"_Harry, I suppose you've read the part of mind guides in the heirbook? I've been waiting for you to finish so I could talk to you. I swear, your mind is the worst one I've ever had the chance to see. There are too many holes in here._" an older voice could be heard in his mind.

"Who are you?" Harry whispered to himself, having just finished reading the part. The voice became a person appearing infront of him, resembling his father, minus the glasses. "_Now, those glasses are a curse on Atalanta's side I'm afraid. And quit speaking it out loud, people would think you're barmy._"

"_Grandpa?_" Harry asked, this time in his mind.

"_Where are my manners? I'm your grandfather, Charlus James Potter, the very last hunter from our bloodline until you accepted it._" Charlus opened, pausing for a moment before he continued. "_James was about to become a hunter, but I had died fighting an entire castle full of rogue vampires in Romania a day before his birthday, so he eventually lost the powers he received in his school days. Sadly, that might have saved him from Tom Marvolo Riddle. Getting back to the point, I am your mind guide, Harry. I can help train you to be a hunter and of course help organize your mind. By the looks of it, there's a lot of damage that can't be fixed easily. Close your eyes and I'll show you so you can help me do so._"

Harry closed his eyes and at first glance, it seems that he slept on the couch, but in the magically induced dream state, Charlus and Harry worked on strengthening on Harry's mind. After three hours, they saw the pathway Voldemort used to plant thoughts into his mind. With a mischievous smirk, Charlus taught Harry how to create a magical mind block in case Voldemort tries to enter.

"_And of course, he won't like my steel or my boot for that matter. He'd be a garter snake when he gets past that block._" Charlus remarked, finally motioning for Harry to sleep in peace. _'Thank you for accepting this burden Harry._' Charlus thought with a soft smile, proud that the last of the Potters took the mantle he left behind.

*end of flashback*

Just as Harry was about to take a bite of the mash potatoes, a light brush of a legilimens push tried to go in as his eyes fixed on Severus Snape. To his amusement, Snape got the shock of his life, evident on the grim and fearful look on his face after the attempt. If anyone dared to even ask what he saw, he would only stutter in fear whispering something about being turned into a kitten in a room full of dementor-like hell hounds.

After Snape retreated from his attempted mind probe, the doors suddenly opened and Albus announced "I would like to proudly announce that our very own Luna Lovegood managed to retreat here after the attack." The tables grew silent, as all eyes focused on Luna.

There was a different air to her, drawing the attention of most of the guys (And some girls) to hungrily look at her reminding Harry of the effect Fleur had on the Hogwarts populace when she first entered the Great Hall. To his surprise, her expression was serious, only smiling back at the Headmaster for a moment. The butterbeer necklace and radish earrings were gone, replaced by onyx earrings and a rather long school robe. Luna's skin was slightly paler than usual, her eyes no longer showed the same dream-like features she used to have and her step seemed faster. Only Harry noticed that it was as if she was forcing herself to slow down while walking. "_Be wary about her Harry, she's darker than she seems_." Charlus warned, as Harry watched her sit down to her house table.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

'_I never thought that my entrance would attract everyone's attention so intensely. Heck, even Ginny was staring at me._'Luna thought as she sat down on the Ravenclaw table. Her eyes gave a quick scan on the room, looking for only one person in a sea of red and gold. '_Harry_', she told herself seeing the one she was looking for, just as suddenly, she felt her left hand lightly grasp the rapier she hid on her school robes.

From what she could see, Harry did the same thing just as he mouthed her name. '_What could this mean? Why did I feel rage at Harry of all people?_' She questioned herself, conflicted at how it suddenly came out of her. '_But I shouldn't pull my sword here. Maybe the headmaster could shed some light at why after dinner._'

Taking her hand off her rapier, she thankfully saw Harry move his away from it as well. '_Harry…_' she thought to herself, remembering at how she got to Hogwarts from the attack.

*flashback*

Luna ran as fast as she could towards the school gates, after activating the emergency portkey from her house. Despite her father's seemingly blatant cluelessness, there was a hint of the true Ravenclaw her mother used to talk about. He actually prepared us for contingencies to escape Voldemort and the Deatheaters. Sadly, he didn't make it but she did as the fates may have destined.

That night, the storm was relentless, bearing hard on the road towards Hogwarts. Just as she was about to lose consciousness from magical and physical exhaustion, Hagrid came to her aid. The very next morning, Albus had explained what Luna would become and how he could keep it a secret, like what he did for Professor Lupin. The headmaster did his very best to provide ways and means to prevent anyone from knowing she was no longer a witch.

*end of flashback*

'_How I wish I could tell you, Harry._' Luna told herself, not touching her food and only drinking something that looked like wine from the goblet. '_But there's something different about you Harry Potter and definitely not just the muscles._'

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

The opening feast came to a close and the students were making their way back to the dorms, but on the way back, Minerva McGonnagal personally fetched Harry and Luna to take them to the Headmaster's office. Ron and Hermione only wondered if it was because of the prophecy, but they decided to talk about it once Harry comes back.

"I know about the rapier Luna." Harry started the conversation, but kept his voice low enough for only Luna to hear.

"And I saw the broadsword, Harry." Luna retorted with a sweet but cold smile on her lips. "Were you even thinking about attacking little old me with your itty-bitty bread knife?" She glared at him, anger boiling slowly within her.

"Don't push it, Lovegood." Harry stated, as Charlus told him "_Keep calm Harry, remember what I told you. I think Albus would tell you of the situation soon enough. Known him for a long time and this sounds completely like something he would do when he wants to tell you something. Besides, I'd like to confirm my suspicions. _" Harry agreed without saying anything, as the gargoyle opened up for them.

"Please enter Mr. Potter and Ms. Lovegood." Albus said and the doors opened to the Headmaster's office, all portraits of headmasters and headmistresses left to give Dumbledore his privacy. The phoenix Fawkes landed on Harry's shoulder and glared at Luna, which Luna responded with a cold stare of her own, a piercing gaze that never suited Luna at all. "Fawkes, enough of that for now, I need to talk to the two." The Headmaster requested and his phoenix complied.

Harry took a good look at the office, seeing some of the artifacts still missing, others repaired. "I'm sorry about my outburst last school year, Headmaster." Harry apologized, his eyes fixed on the headmaster as the two students took a seat at opposite sides of the room.

"Don't give it much thought Mr. Potter, it is of no consequence. What I wanted to discuss with you both is what is about to happen or the eventualities that involve the both of you. I've noticed that you two nearly drew swords in the middle of the Great Hall, nearly ruining my plan for a normal start of the year for Ms. Lovegood." Placing his attention to Luna, he continued "I need to know what truly happened that night at the rook, so I can keep you safe if my suspicions about Mr. Potter are correct."

"_What could Albus be suspecting you of? I suppose he knows of our heritage Harry. I did help him fight Grindelwald during the siege of Numengard._" Charlus said, both Potters feeling a presence trying to pierce into Harry's mind. "_Though, he has forgotten a bit of etiquette lately._" Charlus let him in, with a stern face. The headmaster's reaction of course was priceless. "_Quit poking into my grandchild's mind, Wulf. You know as I do that the House of Potter are a family of Hunters. I'll let you off the hook for now, since you're curious about that professor's reaction from poking through. But don't do it again, you understand me Wulf?_" Charlus said and a soft smile appeared on Harry's lips. "_Don't forget to store that memory, Harry. I_t's _worthy enough for casting a strong Patronus. Imagine blocking off the legilimens probe of the Supreme Mugwump. However, I don't be angry at him. I'd probably do the same thing if I saw that connection to Tom Riddle. He could possess you anytime if he tried._" Snapping off the shock of seeing his longtime friend, he looked at Harry and whispered "I'm sorry Harry."

Luna merely watched a brief tinge of legilimens and a different kind of magic similar to occulumens between headmaster and student. She cleared her throat, her eyes dull and without a hint of malice she said "Harry, as the Headmaster confirmed when I arrived here, I'm a vampire."


	4. The Fledgling's Lament

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the Harry Potter series.

A/N: Thanks to frustratedstudent for the beta test

Legends:

"Words" – speech

"_Words_" – thought speech

'_Words_' - thoughts

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: The Fledgling's Lament<strong>

From the last chapter:

_Luna merely watched a brief tinge of legilimens and a different kind of magic similar to occulumens between headmaster and student. She cleared her throat, her eyes dull and without a hint of malice she said "Harry, as the Headmaster confirmed when I arrived here, I'm a vampire."_

As those very words spewed out of Luna's lips, Charlus shouted "_Calm down!_" as Harry's eyes fixated on Luna with his broadsword half drawn. His emerald eyes shone brighter with raw magic swirling around, hell bent on destroying his very own lieutenant, the same Luna Lovegood he lamented and began to like. Luna on the other hand had her teeth bared, the glamour spell failing and now showing her fangs. Her eyes changed from blue to red and her hand was on her rapier as well.

"Enough, both of you!" Albus commanded his terrifying aura appearing from under the desk and behind his chair, scaring both students to submission.

"_Listen to Albus, Harry! You can't handle the strength of a vampire yet!_" Charlus argued and eventually both students sheath their swords.

"Luna, kindly continue." Albus said, retracting his show of power. '_These two are very important now in the war to Voldemort, the child of the prophecy and an unknown quantity that Tom should never have the chance to ally with._'

Luna took a deep breath and calmed herself, remembering how she wanted to wrap her arms around him just before that incident, to tell him how she wanted his company with the threstrals before. And she placed a hand in her pocket, a picture in her fingertips. '_My intended_' She thought as she told her story.

"You see, it started like any other night at the rook, strong storm that overtook our place that night…"

*Flashback*

The dirigible plums outside the rook were steadily getting cut loose due to the strong winds while the rain pounded their house violently. Xenophilius Lovegood went out of his house to secure those plants and perhaps salvage what was left. Unbeknownst to him, another figure was waiting for him. A white blur and it was over before it even began. As the older Lovegood's hand went to his wand, his life was snuffed out of him. The pale creature went inside the house, fangs laced with the blood of his victim. And another one looked to be in his grasp. '_There's a young lady here, as fresh as a freshly opened rosebud. What good luck such storms are. And that soft voice, ah, such as feast upon me._' The vampire thought, as he soundlessly made his way up to a half-opened door.

A neatly finished painting for her friends, as well as a chain of gold letters of their names, was on the wall. She, the dirty blond girl was humming softly to herself, looking intently at the one picture she liked to keep on her work table beside her mother and father. She was actually writing a small poem for him, her radish earrings and bottle cap necklace were on top of the desk. Her school trunk was still unpacked.

Just as the pale creature stepped inside, a relentless barrage of spells shot out from Luna Lovegood, her façade just as focused as from her time in the Department of Mysteries. She displayed sheer determination and faster wandwork, as she shouted "Inflamare Maximus! Lumos Solare! Incendio! Incendio! Incendio!"

She upped the ante by kicking up a chair to distract the vampire while she moved around the room. Those seconds felt like an eternity. '_How do I defeat him when he moves faster than my wandwork?_'

An idea sprouted up and she stopped casting for a moment, before shouting "_Lacero Inflamare!"_ and a blue firewhip emerged from her wand. The vampire looked in awe at his pray, able to cast a strong firewhip at such a young age. '_She's worth having as my companion, I shall take her!_' The vampire told himself, nimbly dodging the precision attacks of the ravenclaw. Seeing her bed, the vampire threw it towards Luna. Luna leaped sidewards, dodging it expertly. But she could only brink when the vampire appeared behind her, sinking his fangs into her throat, his grip on her wand arm made her wand drop to the ground. Memories of her life flashed back in reverse and to her surprise, she remembered her Mother's sacrifice.

*End of Flashback*

"And from that moment, everything was clear. Even my vision was back. You know what I mean, right headmaster?" Luna said, taking a pause as the Headmaster nodded at her question. Smiling sadly, he said "Yes, I remember your mother's mage sight. It's a unique but obscure gift ever since someone created the spell to imitate that gift."

"_There was of course another even more powerful gift than mage sight. It's called spell weaving, the ability to wield the ambivalent magics around the weaver._"

An air of silence enveloped the three before Luna broke it, saying "May I continue? Everyone had asked me what happened and frankly I couldn't remember until that moment. I only remember seeing brilliant colors when I was younger, maybe a hint or two when I was studying here, mistaking them for something else. Now, I can see all of them, especially wonderful here in this very room, but I'm going to close it off for now so I can concentrate on my tale again. Everyone had wondered how, but now I'm only going to tell both of you."

*flashback*

"Moonflower, stand back please. Mommy is working on this spell right now, so please stay back a bit." A woman of the same blond hair and softer feminine features said to her younger counterpart. '_A perfect copy of me, save her father's beautiful eyes._'

Luna clutched her teddy bear and stepped back, watching her mom reverse engineer the African lightning spell she learned in their journey to Africa. Selene Lovegood nee Selwyn had a goal, and that was to make muggle electricity available to wizards without the need for creating bulky contraptions to generate it or to negate magical feedback. '_Arthur would of course go nuts over this one and we can live to the standards of the Normals today._' Selene told herself as she fired up the spell.

The new spell worked on the toaster she bought the other day, starting it up. But just as the toaster was starting to warm up the two slices of bread she placed, a tendril of pure electricity landed on her index finger and the surge knocked her to the ground, making her shake violently, feeling every volt of electricity threatening to burn her heart and brain out. At that very moment, Luna ran to her mother, teddy bear tossed to the side, all the brilliant light emitted by the magical lightning visible from her mother's body.

Moments away from her death, Selene suddenly felt the easing of all pain. Her own daughter was a spell weaver, who was currently touching the strings of magic to shape it into anything she wished or used the string to power up a spell. '_Just like my grandmother during the Grindelwald war._' Selene proudly told herself, not distracting Luna from shaping the lightning into a harmless ball and tossing it away.

But fate had other plans because the very moment when Luna was about to toss the lighting ball away, Xenophilius barged into the room and startled Luna. The ball of pure energy was starting to become unstable and Selene knew what she had to do. She activated all her failsafe wards and wrapped her arms around the lighting ball. Xenophilius knew then and there that he had lost his wife and she mouthed the words 'I love you' at her husband before the shockwave killed her and the wards did their best to absorb all the unstable power unleashed, but it was too much.

When the wards collapsed, a shockwave knocked Luna and Xenophilius to the wall and that changed their lives forever. Luna lost her mage sight to spell weave and her father slowly lost his mind from the shock, the brain trauma and that one lingering guilt that had he arrived a minute later, Selene would still be with him, wrapping their arms around Luna, proud of her for saving her mother's life.

*end of flashback*

"And…" for the first time in her life, Luna found herself truly at a loss. The emotions of finally remembering how her mother really died because she failed, her father's slow collapse to insanity and losing that very memory, was her breaking point. Blood tears flowed freely from her eyes, her wails of agony and anguish reverberating from the Headmaster's office. All her strength failed her and she fell on the floor, shivering and weeping, slamming her fist on the ground and wailing. Just when she felt that there could be no comfort in her eternity, a gentle but aged hand held her shoulder. Albus himself understood that pain all too well, from his well-meaning father Percival, his loving mother Kendra, his forever traumatized sister Ariana and his aloof and resentful brother Aberforth. "Luna..." He whispered, as Luna forgot all protocol and wrapped her arms around the Headmaster, like a grandchild seeking comfort from her grandfather.

Harry instinctively closed his link for Charlus after asking permission to do so and slowly went to Luna. Albus let go of Luna and watched as her blood red eyes turned to her normal blue and wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and continued to weep. Harry placed his hands on her waist and whispered "Luna, I'm sorry… I'm here. We're all here." All the anger in the two students' hearts melted for that moment and both remembered the other for who the other had been before the start of the year. To Harry, she was the most loyal friend, a brilliant lady, the wildcard lieutenant and perhaps the only one who perfectly understood him for who he was.

As the tears stopped, Luna regretfully removed herself from Harry's arms and whispered "Scourgify." The blood from his, hers and the headmaster's robes disappeared, leaving the robes as good as new. Luna moved her chair nearer and Harry followed suit, a show of solidarity in giving her the strength to tell the last part of her story. "Thank you very much. Now, I need to continue, we shouldn't be sidetracked for too long." She said, receiving a nod from the headmaster. "As my memories came back, I focused on the image of my core slowly shrinking and forced myself to pull them back in, like a series of ropes that I can use to tug it back. I focused my hardest and fought back. This is what happened…"

*flashback*

As the last beats of her heart came, the vampire cut his wrist and urged Luna to feed. She complied, her head delirious with the loss of blood. "Drink, sweet and beautiful Luna. Oh how I weep for you, for your sorrows and your triumphs in the wretched mortal coil. I shall save you from the grasp of death and we shall be together for all eternity." The vampire whispered to her ear, urging her to drink more.

The sensation Luna felt was like a pepper up potion only much more potent, like her entire being was being changed to be faster, stronger, better. With the transformation nearly complete, she took off her clothes from the filth her body released in the process and went to a nearby cabinet, pulling out her mother's white lace dress. The vampire took time waiting for Luna to finish her bath and smiled as she came out a goddess. She finally got back to her bearings and went to her maker, whispering "Sanguini."

"You remember me from Hogwarts?" Sanguini asked, pleased that his prey and now fledging remembered who he was, the same student who was with Harry Potter. Luna smiled in acknowledgement while concocting a plan. '_I have no intent to stay with Sanguini, since I have to be with my intended._' Luna felt her magical core still intact and she could feel the strings of magic around her, just like she did before her mom's death.

A softer and innocent yet seductive smile was on her lips, distracting Sanguini while she walked towards him. A quick glance at Harry's picture on her study table steeled her resolve and she whispered, "Round two." The magic she utilized was within her fingertips, raw materials for the most destructive of magics. She let her hands flow, almost instantaneously creating a large oak shield while running for her wand. The shield gave her enough time to get her wand back as the silver rapier hacked away at the oak shield like a hot knife through butter. She managed to get her wand back only to see her oak shield shatter from Sanguini's punch. The shrapnel dug around Luna's arms and waist but only fueled the desire to defeat her creator. With a grace and speed she would never have accomplished even with magic, she found an opening and slammed her foot on Sanguini's chest, using it as a springboard to give distance.

"I will never be your intended! I already have one!" She proclaimed, nonverbally powering up a firewhip from her wand. This time, it had a pure white flame and never touching the floor. With her most venomous look, she lashed at him using the firewhip, the one attack her enemy aimed to block with his silver rapier. It was decided even before the strike was landed. Sanguini turned to the finest dust and the silver rapier shockingly unscathed. Luna's power left her and the firewhip disappeared, leaving her struggling for support.

Almost dragging herself to do so, she took her assigned portkey, her trunk and her books, her mother's onyx necklace, and Harry's picture. Luna also placed the sword on her trunk before managing to get out of the house. Taking most of the tendrils of magic at her home, she created an intense magical fire, deciding that she should start anew, just as her father said, like the Phoenix what rose up from the ashes of the past. Taking out the portkey, she could only feel a tug and found herself at Hogwarts.

*end of flashback*

Luna omitted any mention of Harry's picture, the same picture she was still holding in her pocket. "If the fledgling kills its creator, then they are free game for the vampire nation, so I went here to the Headmaster." Luna said, finally finishing her story. Silence met the three for a minute or so, trying to process what lengths this scenario could be used for the war. "And I suppose you should know that I'm a Vampire Slayer Luna." Harry said, breaking the silence. "That was very obvious, Potter." Luna responded, showing the silver rapier to Dumbledore.

Charlus opened the link once more and said "_That sword is the Nox Eterna. Only vampire royalty can hold it. During my time, it had already been stolen and the Vampire Nation has exhausted all efforts to look for it. It is Excelsior's rival, be wary of it._" Dumbledore looked at Harry for a moment, trying to gauge if the young hunter would attack, but he found his fears to be unfounded. '_Dark silver with a glamour making it look like ordinary silver. I'm holding the Nox Eterna._' Albus thought, the elder wand shaking in his robe to warn him against trying to take it from Luna.

"For this year, I only have one request in these dark times against Tom Riddle." Dumbledore opened, clearing his throat while returning Luna's sword. "Mr. Potter, try to give Ms. Lovegood a normal year... We are going to need all the help we can get in this war and a spell weaver has turned the tide of wizarding battles. During these times of great distress and disaster, we need all our friends if we want to make our world a better place compared to a world ruled by Tom. Let Ms. Lovegood tell Ms. Granger and Mr. Weasley if she feels they are to be trusted with her secret. " The Headmaster said, motioning for Luna to take her leave. As Luna went for the door, she took one last look at Harry and their eyes met. The same strong willed emerald eyes that she grew fond of met her blue eyes and she looked away, hoping to herself that it could be a better year.

"Headmaster… We still have something to discuss?" Harry inquired, seeing the Headmaster finally leaving his desk and standing up to walk around his office. "I place an undue burden on you once more Harry. And for this, I sincerely apologize to you and to my good friend Charlus. Had I any more choices on the matter, I would take the mantle myself so that one more innocent soul does not thread the horrors I've faced with Gellert Grindelwald. But alas, it is not to be. I ask of you one more burden, to guard the students the moment Ms. Lovegood succumbs to the bloodlust, though of course, tell no one else who you did not tell that you are a hunter. The Inquisition with Hunters at their side has killed wizards and witches as well, and only after the defeat of Dark Lord Antonius have Hunters been accepted into our world completely."

"_Let us go, I think Albus has said enough._" Charlus said as Harry asked to be excused. Albus nodded and said "I will take a greater part of your education now, Harry. I hope it will be enough." Harry nodded and went out of the headmaster's office, stoic but determined to bring the extra task from Dumbledore.

"I guess, it's time to gather them all and set things in motion." Albus whispered, as the night ended with owls flying out of the Headmaster's office.


	5. Old Habits and Tugging at Heartstrings

Disclaimer: Yet again, the characters belong to JK Rowling and whichever individuals or groups shares rights to these characters.

A/N: Thanks again to frustratedstudent for the help. And I'd also like to hear from you, the readers sometime.

* * *

><p>Legends:<p>

"Words" – speech

"_Words_" – thought speech

'_Words_' - thoughts

* * *

><p>Chapter 4 – Old Habits and Tugging at Heartstrings<p>

The start of the year was interesting, not just because the Weasley twins had brought much mayhem with their new products, but also what started as a jogging session of two students became a morning routine for the curious, the health conscious, the muggleborn and the members of Dumbledore's Army, now known as the Defense Association. At that very morning, the familiar sound of a zooming broomstick and yelping students along with a gruff voice urging them to move faster.

Ron dodged to his left, nearly bumping into Neville then hopped forward while continuing to jog faster. Unfortunately, at that precise moment, he got hit with the stinging hex just as his feet landed on the ground. "Remind me why we're doing this again?" Ron grumbled, seeing Hermione get hit twice with the stinging hex.

"Jogging builds up stamina, which increases the amount of time you can fight. And dodging improves your reflexes. And don't you remember that it was your idea in the first place to join with Harry and Luna." Neville replied, confident in dodging most of Alastor "Mad-eye" Moody's attacks.

Hermione shook her head at Ron's rant and added "Besides, I think we're all improving. You even got an Exceeds Expectations grade in McGonnagal's assignments without my help."

Ron gave a knowing smile and continued to jog, glancing sideways for a bit, seeing Hermione run with her navy blue sweater, black jogging pants and rubber shoes. Her hair was in a pony tail, seeing that it was tamer than the usual fuzzy hair. '_This year is the year I tell her what I really feel about her. I'm absolutely head over heels about her and that I don't think I'm worthy for someone brilliant like her._' He thought, focusing back to running around the lake.

When Ron heard a swooshing sound from behind, he instinctively sidestepped and continue running, half of his attention to a scowling Alastor Moody doing a quick drive-by on a broom. The retired Auror continued flying, speeding towards two students far ahead of the morning runners. Ron whispered "Good luck Harry, Mad-eye's coming your way and he's very annoyed."

At the front of all the morning runners were Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood, in the middle of a duel of spells. "_Bombarda Maxima_!" Harry said, his right index finger mimicking how the spell work would look like.

"Nice try, Potter. But you'd have to do better than that. _Vertexis_!" Luna whispered, dodging a stinging hex from Mad-Eye while doing the same thing as Harry, using her index finger to mimic the wand movement.

"Blowing dust and pebbles at my direction, really Lovegood? _Engorgio _at the grass and _Incendio._" Harry responded, effortlessly sidestepping a series of stinging hexes aimed at his legs and feet.

"Hurry up and quit playing around! Lestrange would have wiped the floor with you two playing around like little kids in a sandbox while having temper tantrums!" Moody barked, his wand rapidly firing off stunners and stinging hexes at the two students in front of him.

'_I'm getting too old teaching children to defend themselves from the darkness… But these two, I'll push and punish them to their very limits until I get them to reach their potential and proudly say that I've personally trained these two students who shouldn't carry the burden of old warriors like me._' Moody thought to himself, while watching the exchange from Potter and Lovegood on his broom and remembering his time with SMART.

*Flashback*

For the first time in his long stint in the ministry as an ace Auror, Alastor Moody was invited in the Department of Mysteries. You could say that the assortment of oddities there bizarre for some, but perhaps it was not so for Alastor. '_The field work makes this look like walk in the museum, especially the brutality of the recent troubles._'

"Welcome witches and wizards. I am Eridanus Croaker, but call me Styx from now on. As we all know, the trouble brewing outside these very halls have been disconcerting and may tear our world asunder. We have picked each one of you for your skills, your brilliance or your specialized skills which could be of further use. A group of talented individuals, trained to fight at any given situation, at any given time, and always at their peak." A man almost the same age as Alastor spoke through with a professor like manner. There were only ten of them, five of them he recognized, which were Andromeda Tonks, James and Lily Potter, Sirius Black and Veronica Jones, his sister in law.

Andromeda Tonks raised her hand and cut off the thing Moody wanted to ask. "Will this gathering require vows of secrecy?" And the question was answered with a curt nod.

"I'm not asking you to take this vow to join, but you will be oblivated if you refuse to do so." Croaker said and almost half left, leaving him, Tonks, the two Potters, Black and Jones. "I had assumed you six will stay. So little to work with… Let us get to business then."

Secrecy Vows were exchanged while oblivations were heard from the other room. "The group I'm forming is known as SMART or the Severe Magical Accelerated Response Team. We studied how the commandos functioned in the muggle world wars. I'll be teaching you to act like a cohesive elite unit and overcome any obstacle." Croaker said, eliciting a cough of disbelief from Alastor.

"I suppose you'd like to prove it, Moody?" Eridanus challenged, his face emotionless, but an inner fire was seen on his eyes. Alastor stood up, his wand drawn. But in a few moments, Alastor found himself overwhelmed by someone he used to trounce effortlessly back at school. Even when Alastor fought dirty, he couldn't land a blow, couldn't even come near Croaker and got his arse handed out to him.

"Now… Do you think I'm capable, Al?" Eridanus remarked with a triumphant smirk on his face and a glare on his eyes. Veronica also looked at Alastor in disdain while Andromeda, James, Lily and Sirius looked in awe of the Unspeakable in front of them today.

"Yes Styx." Alastor said, beginning the long arduous lessons and having the call sign 'Muppet' for the entire time in SMART.

*End of Flashback*

'_Those were good times, even if he did call me Muppet. He started with the concept of Muscle Memory and how doing the same thing over and over again makes your body and reflexes remember. We used to call it "Croaker's old Habit". Pity, only Star, Styx, Me and Shroud are left from the original SMART._' Moody thought to himself. As the three turned the corner, Moody spotted Draco Malfoy starting to jog with a couple of Slytherins at the very back of the pack.

Alastor's rant rang through his brain after seeing Draco, '_That Malfoy brat reminds me very well of his bastard father. If it wasn't for Lucius Malfoy and Cornelius Fudge, the SMART project would never have been scrapped due to funding. Of course it was top secret, known only to Croaker and listed as research funding in the accounting books, but those two took the galleons there too. Malfoy and Fudge deserve a good kicking in the balls for their greed and stupidity. If it wasn't for them, we would have gotten Bellatrix Lestrange at the Department of Mysteries and I wouldn't have been stuck at that damned trunk._'

"Quit playing around!" Alastor said, renewing his assault non-verbally, managing to catch both Harry and Luna with overpowered stinging hexes.

Luna continued to 'fight', resorting to her old standby "_Incendio Lacero_ to your torso." All the while, she saw another blond looking intently at them. Her features were more aristocratic and a Slytherin crest was embroidered on her pale pink shirt.

The girl seemed to recognize their hand gestures as wand movements and smiled at Luna, staring her in the eye without fear. '_That looks like Croaker's Old Habit. Mom would have a fit if she heard Moody teach students about it._' The girl thought, as she continued, not minding Draco's usual rants about Gryffindor.

"I'll keep an eye on you, Daphne Greengrass." Luna whispered, ducking her head as another stinging hex came at her.

x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Inside the Room of Requirement, just an hour before their classes, a series of loud grunts and shouts could be heard, as Harry mixed his boxing training with the concept of Close Quarters Combat. '_Strike First, Strike Fast, Strike Hard._' The mantra went on his head as his instructor, a fit but older red head dodged each attempt effortlessly.

In every attempt, which annoyed Harry to no end, was his instructor, landing quick thumb jabs with some charmed paint on his weak spots on every attack. Potter was already at wits end on how he ended up messy with pink dots all over him. A loud cough called Harry's attention.

"If that's the best you can do Potter, you're not ready to face real war. I've fought in the Falkland Islands before and while I admit you have a lot of power, physical and magical, you don't have the instinct to fight a real war yet." The instructor told Harry, parrying another punch and deciding to up the ante. The instructor sidestepped another punch and ducked, spinning and sweeping Harry's legs with one of his own. Harry Potter landed on the ground hard and another thumb jab was on his neck. "That's enough for the day." The instructor said, wiping the paint off his thumb, while watching Luna tear another wooden dummy with her bare fists.

"Luna!" The instructor shouted, earning a menacing growl from Luna. He stared nonchalantly at the vampire and she returned back to her softer, normal self. "I want to see more precise strikes next time. It's easy to tear someone limb from limb, but if the stories I've heard with Lancelot Prewitt are to be believed, Vampires have been the most deadly of assassins because of their subtlety, not their carnage." He pointed to the amount of dummies destroyed. The head and limbs destroyed, torso area ripped apart by hand.

"I try Perseus, but when I'm attacking, I feel so alive and want to destroy the enemy completely." Luna replied dreamily but with a hint of her brutality in her tone. She took a glance at Harry, still covered in pink spots before he muttered a cleaning spell. She did her best to hide a blush, seeing Harry's well built torso until he wore a shirt that was too big for him. Returning her focus on her instructor, she looked intently at his features. The man had red hair, serious eyes that probably saw to the death of hundreds of men, a couple of scars marred on his face, perfectly fit but not at his prime anymore.

Perseus nodded and urged the two to go out of the room with him, before he's spotted by any of his nephews and his niece. He remembered the arrangement he did with Albus Dumbledore. He'd teach these two, but he would avoid contact with any of the Weasley children. Molly would have a crying fit if she heard that he was at Hogwarts this very moment. However, he also felt it was a matter of time before he was spotted by any of her kids.

As luck would have it however, a month into training Potter and Lovegood, a petite voice called out to him. "Are you Perseus Prewitt?" She said, with her voice resolute as she recognized the man from her mom's lone picture of her uncle Perseus.

Ginny saw the man turn to him and she knew she couldn't be wrong. He almost looked like an older version of her brother Ron. A long white line from his forehead to his left cheek was one of the more striking differences, besides the other scars. He wasn't buff, but he was built, like one of those soldiers she saw once on a muggle television while she journeyed into muggle London with the twins. He had the same hazel eyes as she has but also has the stern demeanor her mother usually exhibited when she was furious. She knew for sure she couldn't be wrong.

Perseus sighed in defeat. '_The boys back in the old days would have my head and a joke about being caught a month into a stealth mission._' He thought to himself and silently pleaded to Harry and Luna to leave him alone to talk to Ginny. He whispered "Modern muggle weapons training next week." The two nodded, whispering their goodbyes to Ginny. Both silently hoped Ginny wouldn't ask them why because they gave their word to keep Perseus' stay at Hogwarts completely secret.

"Where do I begin?" Ginny asked, looking intently at an uncle they were never allowed to talk about at home, but knew only by name. Her father had insisted always that family always mattered, regardless if they were non-magicals or magical. Yet at the same time, her father allowed one exception and that exception was standing in front of her.

"A walk would be nice, Ginerva Weasley." Perseus suggested and Ginny acceded, eventually walking around the less travelled halls of Hogwarts.

"Now, if it is about your friends not telling you that I stayed here on Dumbledore's request, it's not their fault. I gave that particular condition before I taught them to how to fight in the real world." Perseus stated, as they slowly made their way to another lesser used path to the grounds.

Ginny only shook her head and responded "It's not that. I'm just curious on how you still knew our names." She bit her lip, trying to gather the courage to ask the next question. "So, who's your informant?"

Perseus smiled bitterly, knowing he didn't make any vows on that while remembering Molly's ways of acquiring information. '_Apple doesn't fall far from the tree then._' He thought as they went down a narrow spiral staircase. "Your father told me about the nephews and nieces I don't know. At the moment, I'm still waiting if my daughter Malfalda would show signs of magic, dreading that very day. I also gave your father the Ford Anglia to tinker with. Whatever happened to that car?"

"That ruddy car is in the forbidden forest after Ron and Harry drove it into the whomping willow during my first year here." Ginny replied, twiddling her thumbs and took in a nice breath of the fresh air. It was probably around 3 or 4 pm, the sun slowly starting its descent.

"Do you like Harry Potter? What do you know about him?" Perseus asked, his eyes enjoying the day without looking at his niece.

Ginny paused, shocked at his uncle's question then took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and all the confused questions rang up through her head, but her ponderings where interrupted when she opened her eyes. Perseus Prewitt reminded her very much of her mother, how she just knew straight away nearly everything that was on her children's minds. Her uncle was looking straight into her eyes, letting her know that it was alright and that he understood completely.

"You already know the answer. How can any woman not continue to be enthralled by someone who's been in your childhood bedtime stories, then you meet him and turns out even more perfect than your imagination. He saved my life in my first year here at Hogwarts. He's faced so much danger in putting up a fight against Voldemort. He maybe moody, reckless and too popular for his own good, but he's selfless, brave and ruggedly handsome." Ginny replied, breaking off from her uncle's gaze and enjoyed the view of the coming sunset on Hogwarts.

"Someday, I hope you fight very hard and love him for who he is, not just as a hero in your mind and heart, but as the battered weary warrior he is. He has so many scars because of this war for someone so young. He knew the depth of loss, of death, of sadness and he walks a fine line between being brave and meeting his end. I'm training him for the year, hoping it would be enough for the war that's slowly spilling over muggle United Kingdom. Stay with him and be his friend, but I think Luna just knows him better, seems better fit for him over someone who's fiery and free-spirited such as you." Perseus told Ginny, as he whispered the name Starry.

Starry the house elf quietly popped beside him and brought two cups of pumpkin juice for both of them before disappearing. Perseus took a sip of pumpkin juice and smiled sadly for her niece. He knew it wasn't right to tell her things, but he knew he had to. Regardless of whatever issues Molly and he were dealing with, he had a longing to meet his nephews and niece ever since he started communicating with Arthur. Arthur obliged him very well and took time to know Malfalda briefly, due to a magical tea set that went amok and spilled tea on his guest or forcing them to drink. He remembered that time quite well.

*Flashback*

It had been years since Perseus left the wizarding world and came to love his life as a muggle. Of course the royal marines felt like freedom for him. Wizarding families either abandon their squib children or scorn them for the rest of their lives. At 16 years of age, he had enough of his father Lancelot and his grandmother Muriel treating him like a mangy dog inside the house.

'_I shouldn't dwell on nightmares anymore… But I do miss the talks with Arthur about the muggle world. He'd have a heart attack to know how everything worked._' Perseus thought, as he was sitting down on a rocking chair he made himself, surveying the backyard of his own house. A moment later, he could have sworn he heard the firefights during his brief stint at the Falkland islands. Pandora of course saved him from being broken after that war. The same shapely brunette woman he came to love and after a long engagement, married him. Today was the day her folks are going to dropping by for afternoon tea just to visit their grandchild.

A doorbell was heard and he made his way to the door. Opening it, he welcomed his inlaws to his living room. To his surprise and horror, his mother in law gave him a tea set that had the feeling of magic in his very hands. He couldn't believe it, wanting it to be wrong but it was impossible. He grew up with enchanted items all around him. His smile delighted his inlaws but his lady knew there was something very wrong.

Inviting him to the kitchen, Pandora's look gave him the urgency to speed up the day he could tell her everything, but as he was about to speak, his future mother-in-law screamed as the tea pot went out making tea on its own while two cups of tea chased Pandora's parents from the living room. A minute later, three men, two wearing obliviator cloaks and one wearing a worn down cloak entered the house. The red hair was a dead giveaway to who could it possibly be. '_Arthur…_' He thought as he saw his visitors get obliviated.

Just as they made their way to Pandora, he blocked them and shouted "Arthur Weasley, you are not obliviating my wife! She knows about our world" This stopped the three men and Arthur could only mouth the name "Perseus Prewitt."

He gave Pandora a pleading look and said "I was about to warn you about the tea pot beloved…" Pandora gave him a pout and shook her head. '_It's going to be one of those days then…_' He thought, knowing how his wife's temper is like on very bad days.

Taking a deep breath, he went to the three wizards and got the gist of how a magical tea set found itself on his property. Eventually, it became a reunion of the Weasley and Prewitts which ended with Malfalda enjoying the company from Arthur who lovingly soothed his niece. From then on, Perseus helped Arthur secretly by siphoning some of the commission he earns as a stockbroker into his niece and nephews' school fund.

*End of Flashback*

"So I have a cousin with you, uncle?" Ginny asked and Perseus nodded. The sun was now setting and just sitting down with Ginny was a step forward for both.

"Just don't forget what I said. Think about it long and hard. Harry deserves to be happy too, we owe him that much." Perseus trailed off, walking away as Ginny slowly made her way her private spot in the lake and wept.


	6. The Swordmaster and the Master Alchemist

Disclaimer: Yet again, the characters belong to JK Rowling and whichever individuals or groups shares rights to these characters.

A/N: I would like to thank once again, my beta reader, **frustratedstudent** for having the patience and the will plus the time to read through and give your thoughts about the various drafts sent. I hope to keep seeing you to the end of the story.

Also, I'd like to give a warm thanks to **TheOnlyCeeCeeJ**, for sticking through the story and giving your thoughts as well, I appreciate it and it does keep me going when I feel like the re-write isn't worth it.

While I can't expect everyone to be pleased with how I write this, I still hope you enjoy and give your thoughts out on what can be improved.

One last thing, do take time to read the Prologue of the Face of Vengeance.

Until the next chapter,

Lee Chua

* * *

><p>Legends:<p>

"Words" – speech

"_Words_" – thought speech

'_Words_' - thoughts

* * *

><p>Chapter 4 – The Swordmaster and the Master Alchemist<p>

The Castle at Hogwarts was full of preparation for All Hallows Eve with the professors, staff and student volunteers decorating the halls with conjured bats or floating pumpkin lanterns. In the middle of all the preparations was Albus Dumbledore, doing his best _The Sorcerer's Apprentice_ imitation, with scissors, ribbons, bats and pumpkins twirling in the air around him, while balls of yarn bounced around the room, orange and black adorning the Great Hall. To the passerby, it was marvelous, but to Albus, it was controlled chaos, feeling annoyed with the mop that suddenly barged in the Great Hall.

On the third floor corridor, Professor Flitwick was chatting animatedly with two of his newly favorite students, Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood. It was no secret that they are excelling far beyond what was normally seen at Hogwarts since the time of Tom Marvolo Riddle or Albus Dumbledore. What made him more enthusiastic with the two is how the two influenced almost all of the students at Hogwarts to become more involved with their studies, their physical condition or both.

As Filius deftly levitated a decorative skull that cackles occasionally, Luna inquired "But how about swords? Are you very much capable of handling one or teaching students how to use it?"

For the first time in their stay in Hogwarts, the normally cheerful Charms professor face grew grave. Flitwick's eyes narrowed and shook his head. "I used to be known as Fleetfoot Flitwick, a champion duelist in the European meets. In my entire stint, I was undefeated till the time I retired from professional dueling due to boredom. That undefeated streak lasted until the time I went to Hogwarts as a professor. In my years no one challenged me to a duel, not even Albus out of professional courtesy. It was broken when one of the younger professors challenged me. To this day, I still cannot fathom on how I would be humbled so effortlessly by someone younger and lesser capable at the duel magics I knew. Since that loss, I have never held a sword again."

Filius paused, looking blankly at the wall for a moment, before he sighed and continued "Of course, I swore a vow against saying who it is, so I unfortunately cannot help both of you with your swords." The Charms professor glanced at Harry and added "Polish that sword sometimes Harry. I see a hint of a thumbprint on the blade."

Harry shrugged and looked into Luna's eyes. She smiled at him with mirth at the rebuke then nodded. They both knew that they have to find the one who beat Flitwick.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The chance came a week later, just after Harry caught the Snitch in the first Quidditch game against Slytherin in 15 seconds flat, a Hogwarts record for Gryffindor. "Roderick Plumpton of Ravenclaw holds the Hogwarts record of 14.98 seconds in 1906. At least I got the snitch literally right under Malfoy's nose." Harry muttered to himself while walking back to the quidditch lockers, his firebolt on his shoulders.

In the stands however, a different commotion was about to happen. Luna was just leaving the quidditch pitch when she locked eyes with Severus Snape. Her instincts told her to hold her disillusioned rapier, but Severus saw through it. Luna then took a gamble and did legillimens on Snape. To her surprise, she got past the defenses, perhaps through her vampiric will and saw two memories at the forefront. She reached the first one, a school boy memory of a 16 year old Severus Snape with a polish saber.

*Severus' 1st memory flashback*

A young lanky lad with black greasy hair was surrounded by levitating chairs around him. He then transfigured these into bulky sandbags and started to thrust effortlessly against the mass of sandbags attacking him. He dodged, sidestepped, thrust, parry and slashed. The Princes were known as vicious but methodical fighters by the pureblood society and his mother was no exception. She drilled him constantly on the curses, potions and weapons everytime his father was away. Of course, they had to hide everything when his father was back because he didn't take the existence of magic well.

He always wondered before why his mother had never left his father for all the abuse he gave her and him, but after the Christmas break, everything became clearer.

Eileen Prince-Snape was a powerful fighter, a prodigy in potions and pursued the temptation of the dark arts to an extent, but even she knew that marriage for wizarding families mattered all the more because they didn't have much population to go with since they all marry late into their lives and only have two or three kids at most, with the exception of the Weasleys. That fact along with her undying love for the dashing young lanky soldier she met just as the days of Grindelwald were drawing to a close made her stay for the broken man with her now. And she explained this to Severus, who was mad at her for it. All the hurt bottled up in Severus ended up in a duel that laid waste to parts of Spinner's end and a bloodied Severus below his mother Eileen, making him promise to never reveal his training to any of Slytherin house, destroying his plans for his monumental rise in the house hierarchy.

So here he was, destroying transfigured sandbags with his saber and narrowing dodging the other bags that would leave heavy bruises if it hit him. In between his sidestep, the door suddenly opened. It was Lily Evans, her fiery auburn hair and green eyes calmed his angry thoughts and he stopped everything.

"Severus, I came here to give you those notes on potions properties we had as a project." Lily said, handing him the notes and looking intently into his eyes. "Will you teach me how to fight with a sword? The war outside seems to be going into the school and the pranks are becoming attacks from both sides…"

"The thing you need to remember Lily is our wand movements are based on fencing." Severus said, contemplating for a bit, before nodding and started training Lily how to duel with a saber. From there, she became known as one of the most formidable fighters the Order had ever had and the team of James Potter, Sirius Black and Lily Evans fought Voldemort to a stalemate three times.

*end of flashback*

Getting out of that memory, she knew she was close to finding their swordmaster if Snape had a firm rooting of fencing in his youth. So she plunged into the second memory.

*Severus' 2nd memory flashback*

The first summer of Severus' Potions Master job and he felt very ecstatic for the first time after he challenged Fleetfoot Flitwick to this sword duel. One thing his mother told him before she passed away was to always keep his skills sharp and to always hide his skills from both his allies and enemies alike. But if it could not be prevented, a magical vow would suffice if assassination is not the goal, it was the Prince way.

At the opposite end, Filius was stretching out and was focused in him the entire time. He heard stories from Rabastian that Filius Flitwick was a master of Charms but a prodigy on a saber. He even did an F slash on the opponent's robe to show superiority and a conquest. He was unbeaten on the international stage, never defeated in England. "Finally, a worthy opponent." Severus whispered, pointing his saber at Filius.

"Brave words, _child_." Filius retorted, venom on the last word. The fight began in a flash, Filius using his mastery at charms to increase all his abilities and advantages of speed and power. To him, it was just another duel, another conquest to the endless list of duelists and mercenaries he defeated.

For Severus however, in between every parry, slash and thrust was a fight for his life. It was drilled to him after that fight with his mother. Every battle is a matter of life and death. It was the Prince way and his eyes lit up, shocking his opponent with the ferocity of his attacks. Severus gave a strong parry, nearly disarming Filius with the swing, moving half of his body into the blind spot of the sword and elbowed Filius in the face.

The charms master got knocked back but summoned his saber and assumed an aggressively offensive stance in wand duels, the saber pointed at Severus.

Severus merely raised an eyebrow and stood still, his saber pointed up in attention. "You bring your charms into a duel, I fight like a muggle. Fair enough, Flitwick?" He commented, correctly anticipating a barrage of slashes and thrusts from Filius without moving from his spot. He knew he had the advantage of being in control of his emotions while his opponent was letting his frustration take control. He ducked a strike, kicked one of the slashes away and swung the hilt of his sword at Filius' stomach.

It knocked the wind out of Flitwick, crashed on the dueling floor and Severus pointed the saber's tip at Filius' neck. "You fight like it's a game, a duel with rules. If this was a contest, I would be defeated by your speed, but I fight as if my life was on the line. Learn your lesson, professor." Severus did three slashes at Filius' robes, shaped like an S. "You will never duel again, that was the price I asked." The Potions master whispered, turning from Filius and walking away.

Filius merely stared at the ceiling for a moment and realized that Severus was right and he had no way to release all his hurt for the magical vow of never dueling with swords again.

*end of flashback*

A moment passed then Snape gathered most of his magic and pushed Luna out from his mind. The mental feedback caused Luna to fall to the ground, clutching her head in agony. She bit back her scream as her fellow Ravenclaws brought her to the Hospital wing, just as Severus recuperated from defending his mind. '_Lovegood…_' He thought, bitter at how he was bested in the mental arts by a vampire fledgling and how he would erase those memories from her mind. '_Perhaps I can use blackmail in this segment. I will not reveal her to be a vampire and she will not reveal that I defeated Filius._' Snape contemplated as he briskly went back to his quarters to release the compounding stress of the day.

Neville saw what happened and ran to the Gryffindor common room, looking for Harry. When he got in, he found him, while he was teaching Ron the basics of prizefighting. "Harry, its Luna!" He shouted, giving himself a moment to breathe. "She's in the Hospital wing, clutching her head."

Harry dodged Ron's right hook and held the fist effortlessly while listening to Neville. He then looked at Hermione and said "Let's go."

Hermione, Ron, Harry and Neville found Ginny along the way and the five made it to the Hospital Wing. Harry was on Luna's side while she was restrained by magical ropes due to her violent shaking. He looked straight into her eyes and applied what he learned from Charlus. "Legillimens" Harry whispered and did his best to fix the damage Snape did, while extracting the memory from Luna. From there, he focused only on the most recent one, retrieving the swordmaster's memory.

As he searched, he heard a sob and someone banging on a door in Luna's mind. He found the source and shouted "_Luna, is that you?_"

Luna replied _"Yes Harry! Get me out of here!" _She stood back while Harry proceeded to slam the door open. It took a solid two minutes before Harry got through and saw her holding a memory out for him. "_Snape locked me in my own mind. I'm trying to gather strength and force myself out of his mind trap but lucky you came along. Snape's the swordmaster we we're looking for._" She said, giving him the memory.

"_Need any help getting out?"_ Harry asked, holding his hand out to her while he saw a couple of mental bindings on her ankle.

"_I'm a vampire Harry, I have to do this myself._" Luna said, gathering all the magics from the recoil magic Snape did to her. With that, Harry was extracted from her mind. "I'm going, keep watch over her, ok?" Harry told Hermione, before anyone could get a word in. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good." Harry muttered while holding the parchment of the Marauder's map. He found the name of Severus Snape moving around his quarters rapidly and rushed there.

It took nearly five minutes before Luna broke out of the bindings and her physical self stopped convulsing. She opened her eyes and saw Hermione, Ron, Neville and Ginny at her bed side. Annoyed with the leather bindings, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath before pulling her arms free through the metal strap. Rubbing her wrists for a moment, she looked into Ginny's eyes and asked "Where is Harry?"

Ginny shook her head, while Ron and Hermione said at the same time, "He left but didn't say where he was going."

Luna nodded and drank the flask ready at her bedside. Discretely licking her lips at the blood of a deer on that flask, she took off the bindings at her legs and stood up, her body feeling better now. "I'm going after Harry. I bet he's going to do something very stupid right now and I'm the only one who can save him from his stupidity. I'll tell you the four of you everything after this. " '_Idiot, why would you charge after Snape?'_

In a blur, Luna was already gone and Hermione's mind went in overdrive at her assumptions at Luna. The flask she was about to investigate vanished in front of their eyes. Neville shook his head at Hermione and said "We all saw what we saw, Hermione." He gestured to Ron and Ginny with their shocked faces. "She'll tell us all at the right time, be patient, Hermione."

When Harry arrived in front of the Potion Master's quarters, he saw that the door was ajar enough for him to peek through. What he saw amazed him. Snape was effortlessly dodging and piercing practice dummies left and right. It was like watching a ballet. "_He is a master after all, Harry. Reminds me of the Princes during my time at Hogwarts, I had the honor of dueling one and it was stalemate, even with my abilities as a hunter. One Eileen Prince was the last of them after all the male heirs were killed by Grindelwald on his rise to conquer Europe. Sadly, I don't know who she married._" Charlus told Harry, his grandson quickly analyzing the fighting style. What they both didn't realize was that Snape knew he was there.

A wand was pointed at Harry and it summoned him towards Snape. In the nick of time, Harry parried a thrust of Snape's Polish Saber while he was zooming through him. "As I expected, you're as arrogant as your father Mr. Potter. Now, show me what you can do with your butter knife." Severus challenged, his Polish Saber pointed towards Harry from his position.

Harry analyzed the situation, Charlus was telling him to calm down and check the surroundings. "_Expect the wand while he duels you with a sword. While I can take over your body to fight this buffoon, I can only do it once and I will disappear from your mind forever. He has slighted my son and grandson for the last time…._" Charlus trailed off as Harry shook his head, wordlessly telling his grandfather that it was his fight.

The Excelsior was pointed right back at Snape and Harry's eyes illuminated the magic he wields. "I accept your challenge, Snape. If you are defeated, meaning weaponless, you will teach me and Ms. Lovegood how to use our swords." Harry said and Snape replied "And if you are put in your place, I am released from the Life debt I carry to protect you." Harry paused for a moment and remarked "So mote it be."

From those words, the Potion Master's quarters became a warzone, littered with the sound of steel versus steel and a light show of stunners, neither man backing down from the challenge given by the other. Severus knew he was facing a different Harry from the naïve boy he tormented all these years. The mild Legillimens he did at the start of the year was proof of that. He dueling Potter was icing on the cake. He even tried to fight dirty, sneaking in a punch or an elbow, but that was met with an open palm or the one painful kick to the side of his head.

He looked at the state of his body, keeping his distance from Harry this time. A broken rib, bleeding chest, torn robes was what he got 10 minutes into the fight. '_Maybe blasting Lovegood with an occulumens pulse wasn't such a good Idea after all._' He thought, this time, hell bent on putting Potter in his place.

Harry found himself on the defensive once Snape really started to fight. The strength of the professor's sword blows were giving him less time to move and already felt a sucker punch to his arm. Then he heard "Accio Potter's glasses." His glasses flew away from him and he merely smirked at Snape, sending him an ice lance to distract his opponent.

Snape merely banished the ice lance back at Harry. Harry sliced the ice lance deftly and the two fighters stopped, sizing each other. Harry checked up on himself for a bit, torn robes, a bruised arm and a few cuts on his arms. '_I think Eileen taught him well. Only a Prince fights that way._' Charlus told Harry, proud his grandson had managed to hold his own in 15 minutes of combat in the home field of his own enemy.

Severus glared at Harry and whispered, "Time to end this." Two hands from the broken practice dummies held Harry's legs and latched on to the ground preventing him to move. Snape then walked towards Harry, swatted away Excelsior from his grasp and was about to point the tip of his saber at Harry's chin. "Never assume the enemy's battlefield is to be conquered so easily. Arrogance is your greatest enemy. The life debt is paid. I will not teach you." Snape said before a white blur slammed into him.

As he got his bearings, he saw that the tip of a dark blade on his neck, nicking a drop of blood. And to his horror, it was Luna's cold red eyes glaring at him and a snarl on her lips. "The price of your life is to teach us the ways of the sword, the way the Princes were taught. We know two of your secrets now. People will pay a huge sum for such information. Besides the sword fighting, after all this time Snape, his mother, Lily Evans?"

In between the fighting, Harry made his way to sit down on the only chair left standing from their fight. His eyes intently looking at him, but this time, not anger only sorrow. Lily's eyes staring back at him just as it was decades ago when she first saw him training in that very room.

"Always, Lovegood. Not a day goes by that I don't think about her. And now, I thrice vow to teach you the ways of the sword, the way the Princes know best. So mote it be." Severus whispered, a soft glow of blue on his wrist from Luna's point of view.

Luna nodded and brought Harry with her away from the room. "One week from now, 6pm, do not be late." Snape trailed off, lying down on the floor in disbelief. He heard the door close and he groaned, muttering "By Maeve, Morgana and Morrigan, why me?"

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Later in the evening, the moonlight was glancing down over the balcony of one of the finer classic hotels in Paris. With a hand on her jet black hair, she took a deep sigh, watching Nicholas Flamel argue with her old friend Albus on the full length communicating mirror. "We'll just outsmart him again. Wulfric is always so stubborn" She muttered to herself, readying a piece of parchment and a ballpoint pen for Nicholas.

Just as Albus was about to start his rants, Nicholas effortlessly let a seamless illusion take his place. "Brian was always so set in his ways when he got older. His displays of power however are annoying me." Nicholas said, smiling to his wife Perenelle as she was chuckling from the exchange on the mirror. "You will go there, Victoria Watson. His last debt to me is repaid with this besides the fact that he was already supposed to give me his extra Agrippa and Morgana chocolate frog cards a month ago." The master alchemist retorted, quickly writing on the piece of parchment to safely provide Victoria Watson a safe passage and stay at Hogwarts in order to teach Albus' vampire student on how to stay in the wizarding world.

"I sure know, I had rejected him enough for his efforts to have my hand in marriage, even though I'm a vampire." Victoria has said without looking at Nicholas Flamel. She was surveying herself at a mirror. She had jet black hair, paler skin compared to her original skin which was tanned evenly on all sides. Her heritage as a Native American was still noticeable even after a century or so and she preferred it that way. Her height had remained at 4' 11" ft and while she could still see magic, she could only grab a few strands after she was turned into a vampire. She snapped her fingers and a comb was on her hand, effortlessly brushing and fixing it.

As she scanned the room, she glanced at the three potions for her travel to Hogwarts. '_Sunlight's end, Osiris reborn and an Eye color changer are such useful potions since I still have bits of my magical core._' She noted, remembering that her small core and those potions were the only things keeping her alive during the day. "It had been decades since I've been here and I think they desecrated the Louvre with that glass pyramid." She remarked, still seeing Albus argue. "I couldn't marry you Wulfric, I'm a vampire. Still to this day, you hold the grudge against me… Pity that. Of course you also remember the Tunguska Event…"

*Flashback*

It was June 30, 1908. "_It's around 6 to 7 AM in the morning, and being chased in the middle of Russia by the Baba Yaga of all things was not a good way to end my night_"_._ Victoria told herself, seeing Albus Dumbledore transfigure trees into vicious wolves in such a short amount of time to delay their pursuers. The wolves were dragged to the ground by roots a few moments later. '_The Magical Cossacks under the employ of the Baba Yaga were proving Drumstrang's education to be no pushovers compared to one of Hogwarts finest._' Victoria thought, keeping her hand on a blindfold she keeps handy for these types of emergencies.

Just when the pursuers were about to catch up, Nicholas decided to up the ante by touching a tree and it became a treant or forest guardian as it was called back in the Haudenosaunee or the Six Nations. It took down the first 5 wizards that were pursuing them for the last 10 minutes. A moment later, it was covered in black flame.

The three looked away from the squeals of pain from the treant and found themselves in the middle of an open field in the forest. In front of them was the Baba Yaga herself and her old house with chicken legs. Her old weathered look, piercing eyes and hag-like features did not betray the depictions given about her. She was floating with a pestle underneath her feet and a mortar at her hand. She smiled which showed her malformed and yellow teeth. In that moment, they found themselves surrounded by 20 of her Cossacks.

"All I ask for your safe passage is that you give me the dark alchemy artifact you wield, Nicholas Flamel." the Baba Yaga said in a crisp tone with a hint of a Russian accent.

Albus looked at the hag in bewilderment and looked to his Alchemy mentor, his wand still trained at the Baba Yaga. "You lie!" Albus shouted and he felt a cold feminine hand on his shoulder in an effort to calm him.

"She isn't lying Albus. The Philosopher's stone is a dark artifact and one Nicholas has kept and carried it like a cross." Victoria whispered, tightening her grasp on his shoulder for a moment. "I should know, my mage sight can see it for what it really is."

"_Casse Toi, vieille sorcière_!" Nicholas muttered, his eyes glaring daggers at the adversary in front of him. She was older than him, but what he lacked in experience compared to her, he made up in him being the only Master Alchemist in the world. "You'll get this over my dead rotting carcass!" Nicholas screamed, alchemic circles appearing around them and white-hot fire blasts spewed forth towards their enemies.

In a moment, it would appear that the fight would be over that quickly, but after the circles disappeared, the Baba Yaga was unscathed, all 20 cossacks running inside the Baba Yaga's house. With a glint in her eye, she whispered "That can be arranged, _deti_."

When she said that word, fiendfyre spewed from the Baba Yaga's mortar coupled with killing curses and lightning that almost overwhelmed Nicholas Flamel. It was thwarted by his two apprentices, with Albus transfiguring the blades of grass into granite disks and launching them at the killing curses. Victoria covered her eyes with the blindfold and weaved the magics towards them and slammed it home to destroy the fiendfyre. Nicholas grabbed the opportunity and created a hastily done alchemic circle which sent mercury spikes towards the Baba Yaga.

The Baba Yaga merely waved her hand and it vanished. "So, the children decide that they face me off? Albus Dumbledore, Victoria Watson and Nicholas Flamel, your names will be dust and forgotten after today." She clapped her hands and earth spikes erupted from the around the three, which then turned into tentacles made out of granite which aimed to grab an appendage and wretch it away violently.

Nicholas Flamel took the Philosopher's stone from his pocket and apparated around the Baba Yaga. With that, tentacles focused on the Master Alchemist. Victoria signaled to Albus and they tapped into the power from Albus' bombardment hex and powered it up towards the Baba Yaga. '_Try blocking something that can't be seen, old hag._' Victoria thought, using as much magic around her to strengthen the spell.

Just as the spell was about to hit, Nicholas Flamel was caught by one of the tentacles and flung in the path of the overpowered bombardment hex. Albus stopped it mid spell and it exploded halfway, and sending the three further apart from each other. It felt like hours for something that lasted a minute and Nicholas Flamel got his bearings. The Baba Yaga went towards him, casually hovering over the carnage around them. "I told you little boy, it would not do to defy me. Now give me the stone!" The Baba Yaga commanded, showing the Alchemist that his two students are fighting the Cossacks without his help.

Nicholas looked into the Baba Yaga's eyes and laughed maniacally. "You think it's that easy?" The one speaking turned into a stone golem and dissolved into the ground. Nicholas appeared besides Victoria, summoning Albus towards him as well. "Victoria, you know the one thing I told you never to do? Do it now." Nicholas whispered, scraping off a grain from the Philosopher's stone, much to the sheer astonishment of Albus Dumbledore.

"Master Flamel, but you said to never tap into its' powers." Albus exclaimed, sending a Rhino towards one of the surviving Cossacks. "It's too dangerous."

"It must be done. Stand behind me." Nicholas said, putting most of his strength into creating the same intricate alchemic circle he used to create the stone, incorporating all the main symbols and elements of the Alchemic study. A moment later, it powered up and covered them into a perfect sphere, covering up to the ground below them. "Now Victoria!"

Victoria closed her eyes, took a deep breath and used her remaining magical core to pull the magic from the grain. The same circle Nicholas Flamel created was drawn below her and a small flicker was all that could be seen before the sky darkened.

The Baba Yaga screamed and all that could be seen was a great ball of light that launched itself at her. The hag pulled the magic and barely dodged the attack. It took a bit out of the Baba yaga before Victoria launched a relentless offensive towards her opponent. For a full minute, it battered the Baba Yaga's shields and dodges. Victoria stood there continued to fire up attacks.

However that was a mistake, as the Baba Yaga stomped her foot on the ground and the shockwave shook the ground Victoria was standing on. Without the aid of her eyes, her preternatural abilities were of no help once she focused on spellweaving. The shockwave destroyed the integrity of one of the drawn circles which resulted into Victoria losing control of the power from the grain. It exploded outwardly and it took Albus' summoning her and Nicholas' pouring the power from the Philosopher's stone into their shield that saved them from being incinerated.

The sky lit up once more. "_Tempus_" muttered Albus. It showed 7:16 AM. "Of all places to have a magical accident that might cause the biggest violation of the International Statute of Secrecy, it had to be in Tunguska, Russia."

*End of Flashback*

"_Even to this day, you've never forgotten the result of my arrogance and carelessness, Wulf. Of course the Baba Yaga survived, but she was never the same hag again."_ She told herself, as she saw Nicholas Flamel slip back into the conversation and took a sip of tea.

"My answer is final, Brian. Your wards will not hold her back and your life debt to me is repaid. Let her teach Luna Lovegood on controlling the very fabric of magic." Nicholas said with finality in his tone, cutting off the connection between him and his student. He strode forward, a letter in his hand and casually gave it to Victoria. "You are to teach a young outcast fledging such as yourself, young apprentice. Your debt to me is paid as well." He said, contemplating at how beautiful the sight on the intersection of _Rue Nicholas Flamel_ and _Rue Perenelle_ was, he remembered his life then when he was working on the Philosopher's stone with his wife. His eyes softened and looked back at Victoria's stern crimson eyes. "I hope you have buried the hatchet with young Brian."

"I have already buried it, but he likes to dig it up. That battle with Gellert had not helped either. He has become a shadow of the bright man I once saw him as. He is someone I love but I had known that it was best not to give him the blood blessing and take away a prominent man from the Wizarding World." Victoria replied, her eyes softened and returned to its original black irises. "He has done much for the betterment of the world, even in my old home. Perhaps it was for the best that I never took him and give him my gift." She looked at the stars and whispered "I must leave now, old friend." And with that, she disappeared into the wind.

Nicholas Flamel's eyed the intersection of _Rue_ Nicholas Flamel and _Rue_ Perenelle once more, to where old home was. "I tapped into the very ghosts that should have inhabited the catacombs and mine shafts below our very City, Perenelle." He whispered, as a soft hand grasped his shoulder. The illusion disappeared and there was a young black haired man with the softest blue eyes, his height of 5'7" was usual of men during his time. The person behind him touching his shoulder was a red haired lithe 5'0" woman with green eyes.

"We did our part _mon amour_. We carried the burden and tested the soon to be defeater of Voldemort. On that day, I drew the circles while you did the arithmancy and ancient runes. We tapped into the residual magics from the souls and from there we created the Philosopher's stone." Perenelle replied, wrapping her arms around her husband's neck.

"If only there was something more I could do. I mean, we destroyed the only copy of how to create it although I stored half of the knowledge in my mind and you stored half in your mind. We generously gave what we could to the community and hid the stone." Nicholas said and paused for a while, letting the cool Parisian air calm his senses. '_It still feels like home._' He thought, cupping his wife's cheek, while never leaving the area of his old home from his sight.

"We kept it away from any and all attempts to have it stolen. I think we have done enough to keep the Philosopher's stone a myth." Perenelle whispered, leaning her cheek towards her husband's hand and closed her eyes in content.

"I weary of battles and the trivialities of man, _Ma Cherie_." Nicholas whispered "But they try their best for their intentions, good or bad, Love. Perhaps the young hunter and his vampire friend could lead the way."

Perenelle kissed her husband's cheek and replied "Always my love. I hope the wizarding world in England changes for the better, so you can get those Chocolate Frog cards from Albus. "


	7. The Sacrificial Lamb

Disclaimer: Yet again, the characters belong to JK Rowling and whichever individuals or groups shares rights to these characters.

A/N: Merry Christmas guys :D Thanks to frustratedstudent for the beta :D

* * *

><p>Legends:<p>

"Words" – speech

"_Words_" – thought speech

'_Words_' - thoughts

* * *

><p>Chapter 6: Sacrificial Lamb<p>

It was a day after that humiliatingly quick Quidditch loss and while Draco brooded about that after his long tryst with Pansy, a missive came from his father during breakfast. It was those he was looking forward to for the past few weeks. Those letters contain either a small family business dinner, which means Death Eater meetings where he would take down notes for his father's dealings, or long letters from his mom who fretted over his wellbeing ever so often lately. He opened the letter while the owl who delivered it went away and he let out a sigh, it was the first one. "_Another meeting, the plans must be underway._" He thought, hiding it under a layer of occulumens his godfather Severus had thought him to always pull up.

"Standard Procedure" Draco muttered, finishing the last pieces of bacon and mashed potatoes from his plate. He then stood up, went to the dorm where he picked up the usual items be brought during the meetings. Luckily for him, the timing of these meetings are mostly weekends unless for emergencies. No one would notice him gone and would probably assume him to be tangling around with Pansy again. The last thing he remembered before breakfast was a still snoring Pansy under the silk sheets. Those thoughts brought a smirk to his face briefly, before heading out to meet Severus.

He met the Potions Master on the grounds, where they would floo from a little known inn with no name farther from the Hog's head. "Sev, it's going to be another long dinner isn't it?" Draco said, not minding anyone as they walked father into their intended floo.

"Draco, it is not wise to complain about it in public. It is unbecoming of you. As such, be prepared for anything, remember my lessons." Snape replied without looking at his godson. They both were talking about the Death Eater meeting, but something was wrong with how Severus said the last sentence, there was worry in his tone, almost unnoticeable.

However, Draco shrugged off his godfather's warning, dismissing it as his professor's usual overprotective self. "There is nothing to worry about Sev. It's just dinner with family." Draco replied and both of them quickly flooed away to Malfoy Manor.

As they arrived, there was a calm but foreboding air inside the manor. It always happens in the presence of the Dark Lord. Draco then took time to have a look at his notes in case he missed everything. While he was doing that, a funny thought escaped into his mind and reminded him of how simple it was to hide the building up of forces from the Ministry. As the old adage goes, "The best way to hide something is to hide it in plain sight." In the inspections and subsequent capture of his father, he personally never thought he could have hidden the items on his list until it happened. The Aurors disregarded the hedges and what could be seen on the other side. As such, only Draco's room had the view of the back forest behind them, but he did not allow them access there without a court sanctioned search and warrant. The Aurors dismissed the notion and never came back.

If they had persisted of course, they would have seen the werewolf packs on the east side of the forest that's been cleared for their purposes, as well as the manticores and dementors from the farther west and lastly, the carcass of the last Ukranian Ironbelly they've sent before. According to his notes, the vampires should have been with them for this war, but the increasing successful extermination of unruly covens by the hunters has stretched their numbers too far to be effective in pursing another front in their war. Also, the nundu that was supposed to be part of the original plan to be a part of the grand army was scrapped after parts of the Malfoy investments and wealth were frozen by the Ministry due to his father's arrest.

He went to the dining area with a purposeful stride, sitting beside his father while his godfather sat on the left side of the Dark Lord, a position both honorable and frightening because that means you are closer to the Dark Lord, but is very wary of you. He thought less about it and took out his notes and quills for the meeting.

"Welcome Draco." The Dark Lord said. And soft hiss could be heard on the trail of the end of the greeting. It was supposed to be warm and cordial as was custom when it come to him. A cold chill ran up Draco's spine, as Voldemort fixated his glance at the Malfoy scion for a moment more before continuing their plans on feeding the muggles caught to the werewolves, dementors or manticores.

A few minutes passed then the attention went to his father, Draco still scribbling. He was listening to the meeting while writing, when he heard the Dark Lord rebuke his father. "You have something that I would to like to point out for tonight, Lucius. I believe, we've discussed this in detail and you will accede to my demands as payment of your failures and the loss of one of my most valued possessions. It is time to give me the price of forgiveness."

At the last word, Draco heard his father muttered "Petrificus Totalus", finding himself petrified from head to toe.

"It is a payment most fitting for the prized possession you've carelessly lost me, Lucius Malfoy. Your first born son and only heir to your family's empire is the price of your failure!" Voldemort exclaimed, earning a quick look of awe and euphoria from Bellatrix. "Make this a lesson for all of you, my Death Eaters. When you are loyal to me, I shall give you everything your heart's desire and the world at your feet. However, when you fail, it is to be met by my disappointment!" A cruciatus curse left Voldemort's wand and into Lucius Malfoy, ending the spell after a second just to prove a point. "Now, you may all leave. Fenrir, take the boy to your den."

With that, all the Death Eaters left. Lucius had a downcast pallor knowing how Narcissa would take losing her only son and that he would have to tell her the soonest himself. He never thought the stakes at pitting his support for the Dark Lord would mean the end of House Malfoy. His father would have cast him out for such actions, but it was that or the transfer of all the properties to Voldemort and the execution of the entire bloodline down to the very last cousin on the Malfoy family tapestry.

Draco on the other hand was carried by Fenrir back to the den on the east side of the forest. To him, his father had given him up to save his own skin and position at the inner circle of Voldemort. In his mind, delirium started to take root, shouting in his mind "_This is not happening. It's only a nightmare… No. No. No!_" Eventually, his petrifaction ended, leaving him to constantly shout "No!" He was helplessly beating his fists at Fenrir's ribs, but it was ignored effortlessly by the pack leader, much like trying to dig through six feet of bed rock with a toothpick. At that time, a stray memory surfaced and he remembered that one night at the Manor, just when the army was starting to be assembled.

It was one of the nights he wandered through the balcony in his room for a breath of fresh air, the den was very much visible then, before the hedges. He heard the screams coming from a muggle family. They found themselves in the middle of the werewolf den and were in the process of being ripped apart by the pack. One by one, the screams turned to silence and a little girl was left surrounded in the circle of body parts from her family's remains. She stared defiantly at the wolves, then at Draco. Her brown hazel eyes fixed on his own and he could only see the resignation in her face but a reminder to him of what war is really about. Draco turned around and closed his eyes to weep, the memory of the powder blue dress, bloodied blond hair and hazel eyes from the little girl who was left to die viciously to the wolves.

Such ironies of fate that oppressor has become the oppressed. For all the illusions of his family's prestige and power, Draco finds himself in the same situation as the little girl. He became a lamb to the slaughter.

On sunset, Draco was unceremoniously dropped in the middle of the den, seeing all Fenrir's troops around the boy in cages. The alpha werewolf sat beside Draco and said "This is how I get new recruits. I sit next to them or keep in close proximity, then bite them and fling them in the open cage right over there." He pointed to the empty cage nearest him. "Welcome to the pack. You remember, I'm the Alpha, you will never disobey me." He added. They waited in silence until the sun fully went down and the full moon came into view.

Fenrir transformed the quickest from the pack and bit Draco on the shoulder, flinging him into the open cage before he lost his mind. A cacophony of howls echoed on the den, as Draco's cage closed from the force of the slytherin's body crashing on the bars.

Draco could feel the needle-like pain of transforming into knives and hot pokers of excruciating pain. His nose and mouth grew into a snout, the hairs on his body grew longer and his body bulked and expanded, ripping his clothes to shreds. After the transformation, he howled with the rest of the pack. It was a howl of helplessness, of sorrow and of hunger.

In the midst of the turmoil, a lone feminine figure stood on top of the hedges, covered by a black cloak. She watched angrily at the display, her grip on the katana deathly tight as she tried to reign in her fury at what they've done to her target. She checked the three flasks of healing potion slipped into the cloak and waited.

x-x-x-x-x

The light of the sun was starting to make itself known, as all the werewolves transformed back to being humans. With the transformation complete, all of the beings in the den passed out from exhaustion and pain. The cloaked spectator made her move.

She took out her wand and ran stealthily towards Draco, while the shadows around her were starting to fade with the incoming dawn. Looking left and right while passing corners, she made good time to reach Draco's cage.

Tapping the cage bars with her wand, she muttered "_Secare Munde_" and the bars cut cleanly. 'Great, silver in the middle of the bars. It must have been very painful for the boy.' She thought, feeling the strain from the spell. Silver has always been resistant to magic and takes a drain to cut, especially to the precise spell she used because it was doing three things at the same time. Her spell turned the usual bright flash of grayish white from the cutting curse invisible, silenced every sound coming from the area being sliced and the actual cutting.

Panting heavily, she summoned the bars and set them down, pulling Draco out of the cage. She took her time to survey the damage inflicted on her mark and saw the freshly made claw marks on his face, torn clothes and heavy breathing. She whispered "R_ennevate_" and it awoke Draco. She then shoved a flask of healing potion unto Draco's mouth to stop him from screaming. Placing a finger on her lips for silence, Draco complied, slowly willing his tired and battered body to drink the potion. "Sleep" She whispered, and Draco closed his eyes to rest, a smile on his lips with the hope of safety from the ordeal.

'Now comes the hard part.' She thought, tapping the wand on Draco's forehead and transforming him into a matchbox. Placing the matchbox into her pocket, she was seeing a few stars forming around her. "Damn it, just a little more and my mission is complete!" She angrily muttered, forcing herself to run into the forest, pocketing her wand and looking for a place where she could use the portkeys.

As she got nearer to the forest, she thought she might have five more minutes before the missing Malfoy would be found out, but it was only a minute into the rescue that all hell broke loose.

Angry shouts were heard all around the forest and the barking of dogs could be heard, growing louder towards her direction by the minute.

She kept her hand on the hilt of her katana and ran faster, cursing her luck. A guard dog tried to lunge at her right flank but she slashed the canine in half effortlessly without losing any of her forward momentum. Spells flew around from behind her and she flung away her cloak while setting it on fire, giving her a second more before finding herself at a clearing where the wards ended.

In front of her however was a giant taking a swing of the tree trunk club at Yui. It almost took her head out had she been a moment slower. She rolled to the left and took out one of her healing potions and drank messily, alleviating the strain on her stamina.

"Damn it, I don't have time for this." She said. She then took a _Waki_ stance, showing only the end of her katana's handle. Bluish white light flared on runes of her blade, one for strength, luck and need respectively. Her eyes narrowed and muttered "Come get some, brute."

The giant swung the club in a swipe off her left side and she rolled forward, evading the tree trunk barely then slashed the tree trunk at the back swing. The trunk was cleanly slashed, but she could feel her arms becoming numb from the impact of her sword. She cursed from the effect on her arms. Lucky her magic stored on the sword took the brunt.

Her opponent tossed the remains of the tree trunk at her and she jumped out of the way. 'Discretion is the better part of valor then.' She thought. Just before she touched one of the ten portkeys she had on her person, she felt the darkest feel of magic she had ever encountered. Looking at the direction, she saw the angry red eyes of Voldemort, a inky black spell already on the way. She swatted the spell with the broad side of her blade and disappeared from between the dark lord and the giant. A loud roar of anger was the last thing she heard from the forest.

After nine different stops around England, she apparated on top of the English Channel before going to the rendezvous point in the Leaky Cauldron. She sheathed her sword which was searing hot at that point, did a purposeful stride towards the fireplace and flooed to a place called "Star's Sanctum."

She found herself in a comfortable living room. There was enough furniture to indicate a woman had planned for everything. It wasn't opulent, even with the rich purples mixed with gold and silver trimmings on some of the curtains. It has a homey feel to it. Closing her eyes for a moment, she took a deep breath and whispered "The deed is done."

After those words were spoken, a woman with a patrician figure and brown hair walked into the living room with a smile on her lips. "Well done, Shadow. Your debt is repaid. But I have further need of your services in the future." Her eyes were warmer, but beneath that motherly image, there was strength in there. Although even her detestable father was loathed to admit it, Star was one of the deadliest duelists he had ever faced in the last few decades.

"Give me the boy and let me handle it from here. Kindly take a seat and wait for tea." Star said, magically cleaning the boy and levitating him nearer to the door. Star left for the kitchen to prepare the tea.

Just as Shadow was about to go take her well deserved break, the scent of honeysuckle and peach filled her nose and she couldn't be mistaken about the memory.

It was something from her youth. Most scents of honeysuckle mixed with peach would just come off as something light, a passing wind. But that one scent from her childhood years when her family was still living here in England came to her like walking through a spring garden filled with lush greens and violets, a garden maintained by the best of hands. It was at the very same manor she went in. She remembered the times she was playing with a lanky but regal blond haired boy, tossing quaffles at each other on toy brooms. She also remembered the boy's mother gently fixing her hair into pigtails, making something mundane and simple into something exquisite and regal. She left her calm façade for a moment and said to no one in particular "Aunt Narcy."

At that very moment, a blond haired woman made her way to Draco frantically. Just as she was about to touch her son, she heard the words "Aunt Narcy" and the scent of jasmine made her remember a young Japanese girl whom she was very fond of like a daughter she would have liked to have back then. She remembered fixing that one girl's pigtails to drinking tea with her stuff toys.

The Malfoy matriarch looked into the direction of the voice and her eyes lit up in surprise, covering her open mouth with her hands. '_It's the same young girl!_' Her thoughts screamed in recognition. She muttered "Can it be you, Yui Niwa? You're the one who saved my Draco tonight?"

Yui's eyes became watery and she quickly blinked it off, whispering "Yui is gone. It's Shadow now, Narcissa."

Narcissa Malfoy shook her head, not believing that Yui had become one of the mercenaries her family was known for. She gathered her strength and wrapped her arms around Yui, whispering "I missed you and I'm sorry for what happened years ago and for what happened tonight."

Yui did not return the hug immediately, in shock that it was really Draco. When it finally sunk in, she wrapped her around Narcissa's waist and let the tears flow freely, knowing that the man she had waited for years to see was now a werewolf.

The door opened and Andromeda Tonks was holding three cups of tea. "Cissy, I believe you've met Yui. Yui Niwa, Narcissa Malfoy, the mother of the boy you've saved. Let's drink this up so we can start on what we found out because of the excursion today. Yui, tell us everything we've learned about Riddle."

From there, Yui told everything until she was exhausted, falling asleep on the couch. '_Tomorrow, I shall tell them everything, especially escaping my Father.'_ She told herself, drifting back to the dreams of one Japanese girl with pigtails, holding hands with a young lanky blond haired boy.


	8. The Shadow of the Grass Cutting Sword

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and / or any of the characters written by JK Rowling. And yes, I don't own any of the great classical pieces that might be mentioned in this chapter.

A/N: Thanks to frustratedstudent for the Beta. Also, I would like to give my many thanks to Inferius1957 and Scabbers1957 for the reviews. Real life apparently caught up with me for the past few months, though some of you might have noticed, I alternate chapter updates between FoV and HnH which is another reason for delay. Despite this, I'm pretty sure I'm finishing these two stories. Enjoy this next chapter.

* * *

><p>Legends:<p>

"Words" – speech

"_Words_" – thought speech

'_Words_' – thoughts

* * *

><p>Chapter 7: The Shadow of the Grass Cutting Sword<p>

The scent of honeysuckle woke Yui up. She opened her eyes and saw Narcissa sleep beside her on a bed conjured in the middle of the living room. It was nostalgic to say the least for Yui, down to the part where Narcissa wrapped her arms around her waist like a mother protecting her child.

"Don't get up yet, Yui-hime. It's been years since I wrapped around my arms over someone I doting on like a daughter I never had." Narcissa whispered with a soft smile on her lips.

"It's Shadow now, Mrs. Malfoy." Yui replied, with resignation from her voice knowing she wouldn't win an argument with Narcissa since she filled up the void of wanting a mother.

"Still headstrong I see. You'll always be Yui-hime to me. And don't worry about Draco right now. He's in stable condition. Andromeda patched him up nicely. Leave Draco to rest for now. " the Malfoy matriarch added, slowly letting go of Yui and sitting up, covering her mouth before letting out a controlled yawn.

Yui on the other hand, sat up at once and looked out the window. The sun was already up and she realized it was years since she slept in. The moment she started training for her family's assassination squad 4 years ago, she always woke up at 3 or 4 am, running around her family's ancestral lands at the foot of Mt. Fuji.

She felt a hand on her left cheek, softly caressing the faint sword scar that was there. "So you are now of the Shadowblades. I remember when my father Cygnus discussed the quick assassinations the Blacks needed to do from time to time without lifting a single finger. You were our best cat's paws. Back then, I was trying to have Lucius conduct an alliance with your father, from then, I met you and saw you slowly grow up along with Draco."

Yui nodded and she said "I remember running around the garden with him, Daphne and that annoying Parkinson girl who always tried to bully me away from Draco. I showed her to never mess with a Niwa every single time." A soft smile played on her lips as she remembered tossing mud at Pansy whenever she annoyed her.

"And yes, you gave me a hard time with cleaning up Pansy before presenting her back to her mother. At least that detestable woman would never strike back against a Black." Narcissa added, noticing Andromeda about to come in, her face almost as serious as Bella before she started serving the Dark Lord.

"Cissy, your son is out of danger, but I think we ruffled up a sleeping dragon in rescuing him." Andromeda said, giving Narcissa the Daily Prophet, numerous raids being conducted simultaneously, giving Minister Scrimgeour a headache to say the least.

Narcissa shook her head at this and threw the paper at the coffee table, saying "The price of this war is getting too high. I'm sorry Andy for supporting that bastard, the nerve of asking for the head of my very own son for the sins of his father!"

While the two were discussing, Yui took out the notes he found on Draco's person and interrupted the two. "By the way, Draco had this on his person, it has the latest troop numbers of You-know-who's army, as well as what happened between the different alliances or failed alliances."

Andromeda's eyes focused on Yui and nodded in approval. "This will be of use to us. However…" She noted the sword Yui brought and shook her head. "I still cannot fathom you stealing that sword away from your father. That might motivate him to join with You-know-who just to retrieve it."

"I disagree, that snake faced bastard killed my mother during his rise to power since he had a contract on his head that my mother accepted. My father will only come after me to get the sword. That is of course, if he could find me." Yui remarked, glancing at the sword that saved her life yesterday. She gave the notes to Andromeda and looked back to Narcissa who said "Is that the sword I think it is?"

"Aunt Narcy, I'm going to require an unbreakable vow for the things I need to say about the sword. Its existence must be kept secret. I want to share everything with you but this is one secret that should never get out of this very room without the vow. I will obliviate you without one." Yui instantly retorted with a serious look in her face.

Narcissa felt sorrow internally seeing Yui touched by this war. She closed her eyes and nodded with Andromeda being the binder. Andromeda then cast a series of complex privacy wards that might be normally seen on goblin meeting rooms in Gringotts.

After the unbreakable vow, Yui whispered "Yes aunt Narcy, it is the actual _Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi_, one of the Imperial Regalia, the Grass Cutting Sword from the book _Kojiki_." She then took a short breath and told her story.

*flashback*

It was early October when the news of Voldemort's rising reached the shores of Japan. A decade and a half before, the Emperor Hirohito had placed a bounty on the Dark Lord's head as a preventive measure should he eye Japan for expansion and all the magical warlords of Japan had refused, fearing the verified reports of Voldemort's abilities, save one clan. The Niwa clan was never known for fighting in direct open warfare, choosing instead to be the cat's paws of the Emperor whenever it suited their purpose. Their family was always controversial that way, especially during this particular century when they had defied the Emperor's edict to charge into the second world war and chose instead to sit the war out. Their decision to evade that war solidified their strength in the modern Japanese era since their family was untouched and complete after the war. They became some of the best wands for hire, beaten out only by a duo of a ruthless Korean and a crazy Texan, and a man wander the seas with a schooner and an actual owl as a companion.

With their willingness to kill Voldemort, the Emperor secretly handed _Kusanagi_ to Yui's father Tetsuo Niwa, who was up to the task to collect the bounty on the Dark Lord's head. However, his wife Mika had decided to collect it instead without her husband's knowledge, using her skills and strength to go toe and toe with the Dark Lord. But without _Kusanagi_, she was eventually defeated and killed brutally, her head sent to Tetsuo in a small gift wrapped package. Just as he was about to go to England for vengeance with _Kusanagi_ on his hand, Harry Potter had defeated Voldemort with a rebounding Avada Kedavra.

Now, upon hearing his re-birth, the Emperor Akihito had given the same bounty. Tetsuo however was reluctant to use Kusanagi because it had reminded him of his failure to save his wife and that the current emperor had not earned his respect being only a few years into the throne. The strength of the Niwa Clan had dissuaded all that would attempt to take it, their numbers and strength combined would not be enough to take over it.

However as fate would have it, the Shadowblades of the Niwa Clan, their premier assassins had not expected that Yui Niwa to be on guard duty of the _Kusanagi_ on the same day the fabled Fallen Star of the Blacks came to visit. She visited with the excuse of wanting to duel with Tetsuo for old time's sake, to find Yui, the same girl she was in correspondence with for the last few months. No one had thought it out of the blue since Yui was studying at Fuji Academy at the time and that only the children of the Niwa Clan and captains of the Shadowblades were allowed communications from the outside

Andromeda Tonks outsmarted everyone that very day, executing the plan she and Yui had been formulating for her assistance to the efforts against Voldemort in exchange of finding Draco Malfoy.

In ten minutes, the formerly inescapable Niwa Castle saw its first escape along with one of the three Imperial Regalia of the Japanese Empire on the hands of Tetsuo's own daughter. It was due to Andromeda's cunning and connections as both a Black and a member of SMART that made sure of a peaceful departure with the Shadowblades lost in the dust.

*end of flashback*

Yui's story was done by the time someone stirred on the couch beside them. Andromeda put down her wards and Yui was the first one to see Draco open his eyes.

Draco winced from the sting from the salves placed on him and squinted his eyes at the unfamiliar surroundings for a moment before focusing on the woman kneeling on his side beside the couch. He saw the warm black irises he remembers fondly from his youth, the shade of black hair that always found its way into trouble for Pansy and the slight squint on the side of her eyes. He could remember the pigtails and the simple summer dress that was both elegant and functional. The scent of jasmine lit his senses up into more memories of a great period of his childhood.

"Yui…" He inquired before his eyes went wide open, finally seeing Yui, her hair on a ponytail, the scent of jasmine lingering still and a faint sword scar on her cheek.

"Don't stand up Draco. You're still hurt from last night." Yui said, placing her hands on his shoulders and shook her head once.

"You saved me from Fenrir's pit?" He weakly said with tears forming on his eyes, the memories of losing control, the hunger and the despair of being a werewolf slowly coming back.

"Yes and I would do so again and again without hesitation." Yui added, resting her head on Draco's chest for a moment, closing her eyes and holding his left hand. She then looked at Draco who used his right hand to trace the scar on her cheek. "Even if I was the very reason for this scar on your cheek?" Draco asked, Narcissa held Andromeda's shoulder to steady herself, hoping to never relive that moment, but to her relief, Yui didn't mention anything about that night the negotiations for an alliance between Malfoy and Niwa have fallen apart.

"Always, Draco. Always." Yui replied, the Japanese girl and Draco pulled himself up, wincing and gritting his teeth from the pain and wrapped his arms around Yui, letting his body weight ease into her and he began to cry on her arms, burying his head on her hair knowing that everything he believed in for almost all his life are now a bunch of lies.

Narcissa could only wrap her arms around her formerly estranged sister and weep silently on her shoulder, the very family motto of the Blacks taunting her at the back of her mind. _Tojours Pur_.


	9. My Intended

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter and / or any of the characters written by JK Rowling. And yes, I don't own any of the great classical pieces that might be mentioned in this chapter.

A/N: Thanks to frustratedstudent for the Beta and sorry for the delay. Just got my new job and doing my best to pull through with the story. It's not a chore, don't worry. It's a journey that's only half way done. I hope to see all of you through the very end.

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><p>Legends:<p>

"Words" – speech

"_Words_" – thought speech

'_Words_' - thoughts

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><p>Chapter 8: My Intended<p>

Luna sat on top of the Astronomy tower, feeling her body shiver from the hunger she's feeling at the moment. The blood replenishers were out of stock at the moment since Snape couldn't finish it tonight because of the meeting with Voldemort and the loss of Slytherin from Gryffindor was caused by a well aimed bludger from Fred to Urquhart and two Wronski feints that caught Draco solidly. Slytherin was a bleeding mess after that game. The supply of potions she needed for food was used to heal those two.

Since she was feeling the hunger, she asked for Dumbledore's permission to hunt in the forbidden forest with the condition that she would keep to the forest and not to the castle, Hogsmeade or Hagrid's cabin. Luna acceded to the Headmaster's request and she started to pick up a scent. It was a deer, two miles away. With a deep breath, she let her need to feed take control, running on the walls of the Astronomy tower, running face first into the ground. 5 feet from the ground, she kicked off and took a front flip, not losing any momentum.

A few moments later, she was on the large young buck in the forest and slammed into it, biting hard on its neck while holding it down. The rush of blood she savored, encompassing her entire being with warmth and euphoria. As the buck died, she let go, wiping her mouth with hand, still feeling the hunger. Her eyes were blood red and her pale skin slowly becoming more alive.

Unknown to the vampire, a third year hufflepuff girl was out and about on a dare to get something from the forbidden forest. It was Eleanor Branstone's turn after Laura Madley brought in a vial from the potions dungeons. Her brunette locks whipping back and forth in her rush to get something. She saw a fallen branch at the edge and picked it up. In her rush to get back, she fell to the ground, scratching her left arm. A few drops of her blood trickled to the ground. Eleanor picked herself up and ran back into the castle, covering her wound with her hand.

Luna was about to pounce on another buck when she got the scent of human blood, Eleanor's. Her senses went into overdrive and she rushed towards the running girl with preternatural speed. As she lunged stealthily at the hufflepuff, her last thoughts were 'A feast for a starving man.'

All of a sudden, she found herself crashing 50 yards away from Eleanor who got inside the castle without noticing Luna.

In front of her, in the middle of the grounds was Harry Potter, shrinking the firebolt and hiding the cloak into a pouch Hermione gave him a day before. "I promised Albus to keep the students safe from your bloodlust, Luna." Harry said with a sharp coldness in his tone. Excelsior glowed a soft but pure white light. "Stand down or I will have to put you down, Luna." He had the sword on his left hand and his wand at his right.

Luna licked the drop of blood that was still on her left cheek and narrowed her eyes at Harry. She took out the Nox Eternal and flicked it, pointing the rapier's tip at Harry's direction. She retorted "You're welcome to try, Potter." Her wand was on her left hand and with her pitching dark laugh, the fight began.

Luna flung transfigured stone disks with her wand, using the excess magics of Hogwarts for those spells, while Harry dodged effortlessly, firing piercing curses at Luna. A moment later the end of Luna's left arm sleeve got caught in a slashing curse Harry switched up on the last minute. Luna ignored the gushing blood because of her healing ability while remembering how Moody fought her. Mixing up the spell repertoire with basic low draining spells while getting the enemy into a pattern then switch it up suddenly to gain the advantage.

'_Not on my watch, Potter. You lost me my feast.'_ She thought, digging her left foot into the ground and kicking it up, sending chunks of soil towards Harry. Getting creative, she flicked her wand and turned it into heated lead.

Harry cursed internally and jumped back. "_Stop fighting like Mad Eye. Fight like you!" _Charlus shouted, as Harry changed tactics and sent ice lances towards Luna for distracting her and a vertexis to get the lead away from him. Harry rushed in forward while Luna was distracted in containing the attack towards her. He slashed Luna and got her by her stomach area, but lucky for Luna, it missed her stomach.

Luna growled and grabbed Harry's left hand and flung him away closer to the forbidden forest. She fired fireballs at Harry's direction, as she used Nox Eternal to send a black wave of magic towards Harry. Her teeth were showing from her lips, as she felt more alive than she ever did. '_Time to finish this._' She thought, running towards Harry. Her sword had a bit of her blood from Harry's slash and it became lighter and stronger in Luna's hands.

It became a duel with swords. Harry's sword was glaring white while Luna's sword was glowing dark red as they clashed. The wands were hidden away and Harry more injured than he let on. His ribs were already hurting from slamming into a tree after Luna tossed him away beside his wrist that was throbbing as well. Plus, he was tiring already after the quidditch match and the afterparty they had. '_It was lucky for that girl that I looked at the Marauder's map before I went to sleep tonight. But if I'm not careful, it's going to be my life instead._' He thought, growling as he swung at Luna again, which the vampire deftly blocked with a maniacal smirk on her lips. '_And she's enjoying it. Damn!_'

Luna whistled a tune, as she started to systematically break down Harry. A few minutes later, she found an opening and kicked Excelsior away from Harry.

"_Let me take control now!"_ Charlus shouted and just as Luna was about to pierce Harry's heart.

A moment later, Luna was engulfed in phoenix fire. And Albus Dumbledore was upon the two, in between the two fighters. His face was resolute and frightening because there was no trace of the grandfather. It was the fighter in front of them this time. "Enough!" were the only words on his lips before they found themselves in the Grimauld place.

Fawkes let out drops of tears on Harry and Dumbledore floated a goblet of blood for Luna while he created the wards to seal both of them. "I ask you for one thing to not do and you both disappoint me tonight." Albus said as he sat down on a cushy couch he transfigured. The aged man still exuded the aura of controlled rage. He then took a deep breath and closed his eyes, letting the pressure of his magical powers that seeped through his emotions ease.

A few moments later that felt like years to Harry, Albus let out a long whistle and his countenance turned back into a chiding grandfather from a battle-hardened warrior.

"I supposed it is my fault for letting things happen and not intervening earlier." Albus remarked, closing his eyes and resting his back on the couch he created. "I did not anticipate Severus to have a longer engagement tonight of all nights." He added, letting out a deep sigh of frustration.

Albus faced Luna and said "It is disappointing that you Ms. Lovegood, my most self restrained student have surrendered to the bloodlust so freely even after having your fill. I had my encounters with a vampire like you and she snaps out of it after her fill of a finch. It was our agreement for your stay in Hogwarts. I hope you think about it in your stay here."

The Headmaster then turned his attention to Harry and remarked "And you, Mr. Potter. Had you informed Minerva first in between your rush to Ms. Lovegood's attempted feeding of a witch, you would not be in the situation you were. Fledging vampires are nothing to trifle with, even with your new found strength. You are never alone, even if I asked you for a vow to protect the students. We are all honor bound to protect all of you, sometimes, even from yourselves. If we had lost you, this war would have been truly lost." Albus ended his rant with his right hand removing his half-moon spectacles and pinching his nose bridge with his left hand while closing his eyes.

"Unfortunately, I cannot stay long. Both of you are sealed up for tonight until I come back. No points will be taken from each of your houses but will serve detention with me until I decide that tonight's lesson has stuck. Fawkes will stay here as well. See you later, Ms. Lovegood and Mr. Potter." With those words, a muffled pop was heard and Albus was gone.

Fawkes rested on the perch in the middle of the room, glancing between Harry who's healing and pensive and Luna who looks calm but contemplating.

Luna was looking back into her actions and was ashamed of losing her control. She knew that she had her thoughts while feeding on the buck, but she let her thirst control her. Luna looked at Harry and instinctively reached out of her pocket and felt the picture frame. It was the same one that convinced her to slay her maker, train harder and keep her morals straight, especially when she had nearly the best of both worlds of being a vampire and a spell weaver.

"Harry, remember the time you saw the threstrals?" Luna inquired, not bearing to look at Harry yet.

With Harry feeling slightly better than before, he looked at Luna and replied "Yeah, I remember it Luna."

"That was the first time in a long time… That anyone had spoken to me at length. My mother had always told me that understanding people by being true with them is the best way to truly gauge who they are. I never understood that before until that conversation. Of course it was a conversation between two people who saw death for what it is. It's the circle we all come to and the sooner we accept it, the sooner we'll be at peace with it." Luna elaborated while mending the clothes she had with her free hand using the magic of the surrounding to sew it back.

Harry nodded and remarked "Yeah. That's why we have to be prepared to meet it doing the right thing. I missed these chats we have. You used to make sense of things so well and piece it together easily." He paused for a bit and suddenly remembered something. "You still have that sketchpad of yours?"

Luna this time turned her attention on Harry, her face blank for a moment before giving him a soft smile with the dreamy look she used to have. "I even have a new sketch." She turned her attention to Fawkes and said "Be a dear Fawkes and hand it to him. Don't worry about any attempt to attack him. I'm alright now with my fill." She handed a sketch book from one of her expanded pockets to the phoenix and saw it go to Harry.

Harry reached it and thanked Fawkes before opening it and quietly looking at the sketches. "I remember most of these. This was the time you tried to draw all of us at the end of the school year." He pointed at the well drawn sketches of Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, him and Luna. Of course, this was before he turned to another page and saw the difference of skill from that sketch to the new one.

It was a nearly lifelike sketch of Ron and Hermione this year. The two were studying under one of the many oak trees near the lake and everything on the sketch moved, from the trees to the rippling of the water from the wind gently blowing. Every now and then, while Hermione was busy scribbling, Ron sneaked glances with a genuine smile on his face. Seeing that Hermione was too engrossed with the book again, Ron made a funny face, which Hermione squinted her eyes in faux annoyance then the two laughed at Ron's antics.

"When did you see this?" Harry asked, his face a mixture of shock, surprise and amusement. '_Finally, Ron slowly making a move on Hermione_' He thought while hearing Charlus chuckle along.

"I saw that just a few days ago, while they were making their assignment in transfiguration. I drew them and enchanted them to move as I saw that day after finishing the sketch. Honestly, I think it's about time." Luna replied, letting out a melodious laugh. Harry joined along for a couple of moments before the place grew silent once more.

"So Luna… Where do we go from here?" Harry asked, unsure what to do now since they can't be the same anymore.

Luna crooked her head to the left, never leaving her eyes on Harry and replied "We try again." She placed her hand on the picture in her pocket again. "Start a new leaf, with this. I have a confession to make." She took out the picture frame with Harry's picture facing her.

"When I said my intended back in the battle against Sanguini, I already had someone in mind. Someone brave but moody, noble, humble but with a quick wit and a moral compass second to none. He is someone who could reach my very soul like a violin while being real. Imperfect in temper, in analyzing the world around him, yet by his stubbornness, comes out on top. I wouldn't mind being with him and bearing my very soul to him to know and love over time."

Luna took a deep breath and her blue eyes fixed on Harry's emerald green eyes that exuded all the honesty in the world. "My intended is you. I wouldn't have it any other way Harry Potter." She put the frame down, Harry's face visible to her, Fawkes and Harry himself.

"And the question is, will you bare your soul to me too, be my friend again over time and love me back for who I am inside and out." Luna smiled at him and lied down on the ground, sleeping and not waiting for his answer.


End file.
